Catskill Mountainkeeper

Presenting the New Catskill Mountainkeeper Website!

2012-02-01T07:33:00.000-08:00

Mountainkeeper Proudly Flips the Switch on Our Newly Designed Website

Communicating with you is a critical part of our core mission and to satisfy our goal to keep you informed and educated about the issues that are important to the Catskills, we are proud to introduce our new revised and redesigned website.

We have changed our look, added substantial amounts of new content and improved our navigation so that it will be easier for you to find the information you’re looking for. Under the leadership of Catskill Mountainkeeper Board Member, Ilene Ferber, we are happy to announce our launch.

Here is a snapshot of the site.

We have incorporated many of your great suggestions and we encourage you to visit our site often as we will be continually updating and improving it. Please tell your friends about it and encourage them to get involved. We’d love to hear from you and have added a “Contact Us” section on each page for your convenience.

Please consider donating to Catskill Mountainkeeper so that we can continue to represent and work for you. All of our programs and initiatives, including this website, require a tremendous amount of staff time and cost. Catskill Mountainkeeper is a 501(c)(3) corporation and we are 100% reliant upon financial contributions to do our work. All of the money that we receive goes to pay for our program costs.

or mail a check to: Catskill Mountainkeeper, PO Box 381, Youngsville, NY 12791
www.catskillmountainkeeper.org

845.482.5400

About Catskill Mountainkeeper
Catskill Mountainkeeper is an independent, not for profit, 501(c)(3) community based environmental advocacy organization, dedicated to creating a flourishing sustainable economy in the Catskills and preserving and protecting the area’s long term health. We address issues of water integrity for the Delaware and Susquehanna River Systems, the defense of the vast woodlands that encompass the Catskill Forest Preserve and the New York City Watershed as well as farmland protection. We promote “smart” development that balances the economic needs and concerns of the Catskill regions’ citizens and the protection of our abundant but exceedingly vulnerable natural resources.
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MOUNTAINKEEPER PARTNERS WITH THE NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS

2011-10-24T08:16:00.001-07:00

Join us for an evening of amazing music and important conversation about the Catskills

Radio Woodstock 100.1 WDST Presents:

The North Mississippi Allstars at the Bearsville Theater

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Doors 7pm - Show 8pm

Tickets: Reserved Balcony $35.00

General Admission: $20:00

For Tickets Click HERE

General Admission Tickets are Standing Room Only. Reserved Seating tickets are for Balcony Tickets.

Catskill Mountainkeeper will be at the concert to talk and share information about our High Peaks progams, Fracking and our Catskills Agricultural Initiative.

All tickets purchased online will be available at Will Call at the theater Box Office on the day of the show. Tickets will NOT be mailed out. Limited seating is available in the bar/lounge area. No flash photography please.

The North Mississippi Allstars were founded in 1996; a product of a special time for modern Mississippi country blues. RL Burnside, Jr. Kimbrough, Otha Turner and their musical families were at their peak; making classic records and touring the world. Brothers Luther and Cody Dickinson soaked up the music of their father, Memphis music legend Jim Dickinson, and absorbed the North Mississippi Blues legacy while playing and shaking it down at the juke joints with their blues ancestors. Luther (guitar and vocals) and Cody (drums and vocals) joined up with bassist Chris Chew to form the core of their own band, the North Mississippi Allstars. Through the filter of generations of Mississippi Blues men, the Allstars pioneered their own blues-infused rock and roll. After touring as an opening act for a variety of artists and honing their chops as a unit, the North Mississippi Allstars issued their debut album, Shake Hands With Shorty in the spring of 2000. Their debut proved to be a success and earned them a Grammy nomination for "Best Contemporary Blues Album". Bringing their style of hill country blues-infused rock & roll to stages all over the country and the world (including multiple tours in Europe and Asia), the Allstars quickly gained a loyal fan base. By 2005 the North Mississippi Allstars' had released 4 studio records, 3 of which were Grammy nominated and earned the reputation as one of the most intriguing acts to emerge from the loam of Southern blues and roots rock. After more than a decade touring together the Allstars decided to branch out in 2008 and pursue other projects. Luther played guitar and mandolin on the Black Crowes release "Warpaint" and soon became a full time member of the band. Meanwhile, Cody formed his own group Hill Country Revue, releasing 2 albums and touring the US extensively with his new band. Chris Chew briefly joined Hill Country Revue before moving on to pursue his own projects. In August 2009, Luther and Cody lost their father only months before Luther became one. Jim had always told them, "You need to be playing music together. You are better together than you will ever be apart." Coincidentally, the Dickinson brothers were not together when Jim passed. At that moment, they were both off on their own, Luther with the Black Crowes and Cody with Hill Country Revue.

So in the spring of 2010, the North Mississippi Allstars reformed and went into the Zebra Ranch, the family's recording studio where they had spent countless hours together with their dad, to create a record that could help them cope with the loss, and, at the same time, rejoice in his honor. The first line of Jim's self-written eulogy was, "I refuse to celebrate death." Luther, Cody and Chris Chew took heed and aimed to celebrate life instead; and the songs for the latest record, Keys to the Kingdom, came pouring out of their souls. Keys to the Kingdom is a song cycle, a celebratory declaration of life in the face of death as well as a musical interpretation of the Dickinson family's recent experience with the cycle of life, written and recorded honestly, fast and raw. There are moments of rock 'n roll rebellion andsexified blues, but the heart of the record reflects the journey that traverses through the mirrored gates of life and death. At the same time Keys to the Kingdom was being recorded, Luther and Cody began performing together as a duo. In early 2011, the NMA Duo released their official bootleg entitled 'Live in the Hills', taken from their performance at the annual North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic in Potts Camp, MS. As a duo Luther and Cody have toured extensively with Robert Plant and the Band of Joy, played many major festival stages, and toured throughout Europe. See Shake 'Em On Down, by the Mississippi Allstars on YouTube

Free Download

Keys to the Kingdom

Click below to stream and download
‘Hear The Hills’

Hear The Hills

I Love My NY Water- Celebrity Ad featuring Mark Ruffalo, Zoe Saldana, Josh Charles, Amy Ryan, Nadia Dajani and Ethan Hawke

2011-06-08T16:52:00.000-07:00

For Immediate Release: June 8, 2011

Contact: Ramsay Adams, Executive Director, Catskill Mountainkeeper

Phone: 845-482-5400

ramsay@catskillmountainkeeper.org

Mountainkeeper and a coalition of groups concerned about fracking have released the first in a series of videos featuring celebrities including Mark Ruffalo, Ethan Hawke, Zoe Saldana, Josh Charles, Amy Ryan and Nadia Dajani declaring their love for New York Water. The campaign was launched with a Huffington Post Blog by Mark Ruffalo which you can read here.

Click here to watch the 1 minute video:

Watch the :30 second spot here

‘Clean Water NOT Dirty Drilling’ - a coalition of organizations working to protect communities and the environment from the dangers of natural gas development - is celebrating the launch of its ‘I Love My New York Water’ campaign with the release of a new ad.

The intention of these videos is to raise awareness on the harmful effects of fracking - a process of natural gas extraction that utilizes high-volume pressure injections of millions of gallons of contaminated water to pump gas from underground shale formations - and its effects on water.

“The consequences of drilling for natural gas are severe and are already being witnessed in states across the nation,” says Catskill Mountainkeeper Executive Director, Ramsay Adams. “It is imperative for New Yorkers to take a stand to prevent gas companies from mobilizing in our state to utilize the same practices that have devastated the water supplies in other areas, including right next door in Pennsylvania.”

Water from New York State reservoirs provides for over 15 million New Yorkers, and the state houses the largest unfiltered reservoir in the country - sending fresh water to residents in cities from NYC to Philadelphia.

"If hydro-fracking were to get its legs in New York State, the consequences would be hugely far-reaching, and damaging in ways that we can only begin to grasp ” says NRDC Senior Attorney, Kate Sinding.

The coalition hopes these videos bring statewide and national attention to the protection and preservation of water supplies. “Our water is a precious and irreplaceable resource,” asserts Ulster County Legislator, Susan Zimet and CEO of Zimet Group, Executive Producer of the commercial. “It’s imperative that we start treating it as such.”

‘Clean Water NOT Dirty Drilling’ was established by Catskill Mountainkeeper, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Earthjustice, EARTHWORKS, Environmental Advocates of New York, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Riverkeeper.

2011-02-09T08:37:00.000-08:00

Catskill Mountainkeeper

February 7, 2011

ALERT

Catskill Mountainkeeper Opens Office in Woodstock,

Dr. Kathleen Nolan to Head High Peaks Regional Advocacy

--------------------------

FREE Open House for Woodstock Community on February 26th

Woodstock, New York - Catskill Mountainkeeper has opened a new office in Woodstock, New York and has hired Kathleen Nolan, MD, MSL, as Director for the High Peaks Region. Woodstock is the gateway to the Catskills High Peaks and is a cultural and historic cornerstone for the entire region. Our new office is located right in downtown Woodstock in the Historic Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, America's oldest continuing art colony. We are honored to share a home with this historic American institution.

Dr. Nolan has been a staunch environmental advocate since she moved to the Catskills over 20 years ago. She brings to Mountainkeeper a keen interest in preserving the economic, environmental, and aesthetic values of pristine mountain peaks and ridgelines. She will focus on the challenges of reining in poorly designed and over-reaching development, while championing sustainable energy projects, open space preservation, advancement of recreational opportunities, and the revival of town and village centers.

"Working with Catskill Mountainkeeper keeps me at the center of the most important issues facing the Catskill region," says Nolan, in response to her appointment. "Mountainkeeper's leadership role has been proven in their defense of clean air and water through their review of hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale and in their opposition to casino gambling as a shortsighted approach to economic development in rural areas. I am delighted to join Mountainkeeper as an educator and advocate on these and other critical issues facing the Catskills region."

With her impressive resume, Nolan comes to Woodstock by way of rural Tennessee. She attended both Saint Louis University and Yale and previously worked for the Hastings Center, writing and teaching on diverse topics in bioethics. She came to the Catskills in 1989 to pursue residential training at a Zen Buddhist monastery and in 2003 she became Executive Director of Tibet Aid in Woodstock. In 2009 she founded Catskills Live! Trails and Wilderness Association. Currently, Nolan serves on the Ulster County Tourism Advisory Board, the Ulster County Trails Advisory Committee and as an officer for the Catskill Heritage Alliance and the Ashokan-Pepacton Watershed Chapter of Trout Unlimited.

Nolan and Mountainkeeper Executive Director Ramsay Adams will welcome the Woodstock community on Saturday February 26th from 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM with an opening party for the new office at the Byrdcliffe Guilds' Kleinert/James Arts Center (the office itself is located next door at 34 Tinker Street, 3rd floor.) Local luminaries including author and poet Will Nixon, folk-rock indie music stars Mike + Ruthy, Woodstock Film Festival's Meira Blaustein and1969 Woodstock Festival Co-Founder Michael Lang will be on hand to introduce Mountainkeeper to its new community. Partygoers will enjoy delicious tastings from Woodstock restaurants and shops and get a chance to hear about the environmental, educational and volunteer opportunities in the Woodstock office. The entire event is free and open to the public. Space is limited so please RSVP by email: info@catskillmountainkeeper.org or call 845.482.5400

Kathleen Nolan, Woodstock, NY. February, 2011 (photo provided by Mountainkeeper)

Kathy Nolan's Mountainkeeper email is kathy@catskillmountainkeeper.org

In other staff news, Mountainkeeper veteran Aaron Bennett has accepted the position of Deputy Coordinator for the Ulster County Department of the Environment. Aaron continues to work with Mountainkeeper on our education initiatives and will continue to lead our hugely popular "Hike the High Peaks" program. We are very proud and excited for Aaron.

____________________________________________________________________________________

UPCOMING EVENT - FREE - THE ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF PARKLAND

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 18, 2011

Catskill Mountainkeeper in Partnership with the Catskill Center and the Catskill Heritage Alliance Announces Catskill Cornucopia's Presentation: "Economic Benefits of Parkland"

Research in the Adirondack and Shawangunk Mountains shows that public lands are clearly beneficial to the economic health of local communities. Learn how we in the Catskills can adopt the lessons of important studies from the experts who conducted them. Catskill Cornucopia invites you to join us for "Economic Benefits of Parkland," a presentation and group discussion held at the Ashokan Center in Olivebridge, at 1:30 pm on Friday, February 18. The presentation is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

Kenneth Strike, the author of Adirondack Park Regional Assessment Program: An Appraisal, and Brian Zweig, who recently conducted the Study of the Economic Impact on the Local Economy of Minnewaska State Park Preserve, Mohonk Preserve and Sam's Point Preserve (in the Shawangunk Mountains) will discuss how economic impacts are calculated, describe what economic benefits have been demonstrated, and suggest where to focus when considering how public lands here in the Catskills can strengthen our own local economies.

Catskill Cornucopia provides a forum for interesting and topical discussions on issues directly connected with life in our mountain communities and is presented through a partnership of the Catskill Heritage Alliance, Catskill Mountainkeeper and the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development. For more information call 845.482.5400 or visit http://www.catskillcenter.org/images/stories/pdf/release020411.pdf

Economic Benefits of Parkland

1:30pm Friday, February 18th

Ashokan Center

477 Beaverkill Rd

Olivebridge, NY 12461

Get Directions to the Ashokan Center

_____________________________________________________________________________

About Catskill Mountainkeeper Catskill Mountainkeeper is an independent, not for profit, 501c3 community based environmental advocacy organization, dedicated to creating a flourishing sustainable economy in the Catskills and preserving and protecting the area's long term health. We address issues of water integrity for the Delaware and Susquehanna River Systems, the defense of the vast woodlands that encompass the Catskill Forest Preserve and the New York City Watershed as well as farmland protection. We promote "smart" development that balances the economic needs and concerns of the Catskill regions' citizens and the protection of our abundant but exceedingly vulnerable natural resources.

Please Help Support Mountainkeeper. A small donation goes a long way. Our online donation system is simple and secure - just click here:

To contact Mountainkeeper call 845 482 5400 or email: info@catskillmountainkeeper.org

Latest Mountainkeeper News

2010-10-21T10:33:00.000-07:00

Commission: Gas regulations not ready yet

The Daily Star - Oct 20 12:42am
The Catskill Mountainkeeper said in the release: "If the DRBC does issue these regulations, Catskill Mountainkeeper will be looking at legal action on behalf of all Catskill region residents to have them nullified. This will be an additional and substantial expense on top of all the other expenses Mountainkeeper is making to continue to lead the fight against gas drilling in our state and region."

SPARC dinner features Mountainkeeper director

Times Herald-Record - Oct 16, 2010

MONTGOMERY — Wes Gillingham, a director of the Catskill Mountainkeeper and on the front lines of the struggle to stop the gas mining process called...

Steve Israel: No rhyme or reason to fracking debate?

Times Herald-Record - Steve Israel - Oct 10, 2010

"It's a no-brainer," says Wes Gillingham, program director of Catskill Mountainkeeper. "Why would you go forward with the rules and regulations before you ...

Catskills Lark in the Park Runs Oct 2-11

ReadMedia (press release) - Sept 29, 2010

4PM - Join Catskill Mountainkeeper Regional Director Aaron Bennett, and his sons Hudson and Samuel (and their stroller) on a walk along the Ashokan ...

The quiet rise of American Big Gas

CNNMoney - Katie Benner - Shelley DuBois - Sept 29, 2010

... history of trashing the places where our energy comes from," says Wes Gillingham, director of a conservation group called the Catskill Mountainkeeper. ...

US energy companies rush into shale oil projects

Financial Times - Sheila McNulty - Sept 29, 2010

“This industry has proven time and time again that they can not be trusted to regulate themselves,” said Wes Gillingham of Catskill Mountainkeeper, ...

Lark in the Park to highlight diversity of the Catskills

Catskill Daily Mail - Jim Planck - Sep 22, 2010
The ramble begins at 2 pm On Wednesday, Oct. 6, Sullivan County-based Catskill Mountainkeeper officials will lead an eight-mile hike, rated difficult,

DEC forest plan weighs fracking

Times Herald-Record - Adam Bosch - Sep 18, 2010
... threat we face is the large-scale industrialization of this wild and scenic area," said Ramsay Adams of the watchdog group Catskill Mountainkeeper.

Natural gas drilling meetings in Binghamton wrap up

RocNow - Jonathan Campbell - Sep 16, 2010

Wes Gillingham, program director for Catskill Mountainkeeper, asked the EPA to expand its study to look at what fracking does to the geology of the land. ...

Second day of EPA hearing sparsely attended

Ithaca Journal - Jon Campbell - Sep 15, 2010
Wes Gillingham, program director for Catskill Mountainkeeper, asked the EPA to expand its study to look at what fracking does to the geology of the land.

My View: Groundswell of groups joins to fight gas drilling

Times Herald-Record - Wes Gillingham - Sep 14, 2010
While we at Catskill Mountainkeeper have worked really hard on this issue, ... Catskill Mountainkeeper may have started singing early and may sing louder at

New Yorkers Rally at EPA's "Fracking" Hearing to Voice Concerns ...

WBGH - Sep 14, 2010
Wes Gillingham, Program Director for Catskill Mountainkeeper said "The 2005 Energy Act exempted the gas industry from all of the critical federal

EPA's New York fracking hearing may lack star power, but not energy

Platts - Sep 10, 2010
Nor will the celebrities, according to officials with Catskill Mountainkeeper, an environmental group helping to organize the anti-drilling contingent.

Is Fracking Poisoning Our Food?

Newsinferno.com - August 31, 2010

The drilling industry, of course, characterizes such occurrences as “isolated incidents”, but Wes Gillingham, program director of Catskill Mountainkeeper, ...

Sullivan County groups fight gas Goliaths

YOUNGSVILLE — The phone rings in the storefront office with homemade desks and no air conditioning.

Middletown Times Herald-Record - Aug 21 11:02pm

Special Reports

The New York Times and Catskill Mountainkeeper have reported that the EPA’s last hearing on fracking, held in Canonsburg, Pa., in July drew over 1,200 people without a hitch.

Online Journal - Aug 15 09:29pm

New York State Senate passes gas drilling (fracking) moratorium bill

It isn’t often these days that the good guys win one. But here’s a beautiful example of a successful effort so far by the activist group Catskill Mountainkeeper and friends.

Online Journal - Aug 12 09:59pm

Sager, activists celebrate moratorium

MONTICELLO, NY — When the New York Senate voted in the wee hours of August 4 to impose a moratorium on gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale until May 15, 2011, many gas drilling opponents in New York and other states were watching the process unfold live over the Internet, and were surprised at the lopsided outcome, 48 to nine.

The River Reporter - Aug 12 06:37am

Gas at a Glance

The Sullivan County Legislature will present its third public forum on natural gas development.

The River Reporter - Aug 12 06:36am

Environmentalists Call for More 'Fracking' Hearings

The Washington Independent - Andrew Restuccia - August 10, 2010

The call for an extension was endorsed by the following environmental groups: Catskill Mountainkeeper, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Earthworks Oil ...

Groups Call on Environmental Protection Agency to Extend Comment ...

ReadMedia (press release) - August 10, 2010

The groups calling on the EPA to extend the comment period include Catskill Mountainkeeper, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Earthworks Oil & Gas ...

LAJARA: What's the fracking problem?

Kingston Daily Freeman - Ivan Lajara - August 10, 2010

Anti-drilling groups include Catskill Mountainkeeper (of Doom!); Frack Action (of Decadence!); Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy (of Despair! ...

Hearing on gas drilling postponed

Times Herald-Record - Steve Israel - August 10, 2010

"It's a travesty, but it's the right thing to do under the circumstances," said Ramsay Adams, executive director of Catskill Mountainkeeper in the Sullivan ...

EPA moves NY drilling hearing, expecting crowds

BusinessWeek - Mary Esch - August 10, 2010

Ramsay Adams, executive director of the community-based environmental advocacy organization Catskill Mountainkeeper, said the sudden change of venue raised ...

EPA moves “fracking” hearing because of cost

Times Herald-Record - Steve Israel - August 10, 2010

“They're disenfranchising the whole public comment period,'' said Wes Gillingham of Catskill Mountainkeeper, which stills plans to rally. ...

Fracking meeting: Change of venue sends rally organizers scrambling

Press & Sun-Bulletin - Steve Reilly - August 10, 2010

"It's really disappointing that the process would work this way," said Wes Gillingham, program director for the environmental group, Catskill Mountainkeeper ...

Fracking for Natural Gas and Oil May Have Broken the Law

Environmental Working Group -August 6, 2010

"This industry has proven time and time again than they cannot be trusted to regulate themselves," affirmed Wes Gillingham with Catskill Mountainkeeper. ...

Bill McKibben storms Barnfest

2010-08-05T11:58:00.002-07:00

TRR photo by Sandy Long

Children perform to the Woody Guthrie tune, “This Land is Your Land,” singing, “This land is our land. It’s not a gasland. Think of our future. It’s all in our hands. From the Delaware River, to the Catskill forests, we need our land to be drill-free.” (Click for larger version)

Bill McKibben storms Barnfest

Author/activist stokes crowd to ‘Get to Work’ on 10/10/10

By SANDY LONG

ROSCOE, NY — Acclaimed author and international organizer on climate change, Bill McKibben stepped up onto a small stage framed by apple trees against a cloud-studded blue sky on July 31, and told hundreds of people perched on the rolling lawn, “I’ve been all over the world and I would not trade New York State. It’s the most beautiful place on Earth. This fight that you’re in will be up and down. We have to take on the fossil fuel industry, the most profitable industry there ever was.”

McKibben was speaking at Barnfest, an event organized by Catskill Mountainkeeper (CM) to celebrate life in the Catskills and increase awareness of issues related to natural gas exploration while raising funds in support of CM’s ongoing work. Artwork created from recycled materials and services donated by supporters throughout the area were auctioned during the day. Locally produced food and live music by the Stoddard Hollow Band and renowned folk performers Jay Ungar and Molly Mason blended beautifully in the idyllic setting.

CM executive director Ramsay Adams said the organization has been overwhelmed with local spirit and energy. “If we’re going to create a grass-roots constituency to protect this great place, it’s got to be community, from the ground up,” he said. “We’ve got issues: gas drilling, casinos, loss of farms to deal with. Like Bill’s work on climate change, we need to focus our energy to think globally while acting locally.”

With a quick apology for “being a downer,” McKibben stressed the importance of addressing Marcellus Shale development in terms of its relationship to the global issue of climate change. “We need to be clear about what it is we’re fighting and what is at the root of it,” he said. “We will not win this battle until we come to terms with the fact that fossil fuel is quickly destroying the planet. We’ve raised the temperature of the earth about one degree so far.

“In the last six weeks, NASA told us that we’ve come through the warmest six months, the warmest year and the warmest decade on record. Everything frozen on Earth is melting. Fourteen countries have set new temperature records. Climatologists have made it clear that unless we get off fossil fuel right away, we will see the temperature rise five degrees in the course of this century. If one degree melts the Arctic, we’d better not find out what five or six degrees does.”

McKibben lamented the continuing failure of the U.S. government to act. “It is not enough to sit down with our political leaders and tell them that the planet is coming to an end,” he said. “We have to figure out a way to tell them that their careers are coming to an end unless they do the right thing.

“The only way to do that is to build a movement. You’ve got the start of a good movement here. But if it’s only about the problems around the Marcellus Shale, then it’s not going to matter. If we keep pouring carbon into the atmosphere, even the most wonderful organic farmers won’t be able to do a damn thing, because if it rains 30 days in a row, or doesn’t rain for 30 days, then you can’t grow anything.”

The broader movement McKibben refers to—350.org—gained serious momentum in January 2008. “We were both horrified and elated when our greatest climatologist, Jim Hansen, put a number on our peril, which allows us a way to organize across language barriers,” said McKibben. 350 parts per million (ppm) CO2 in the atmosphere is the safe limit for humanity, according to Hansen. The atmosphere is currently at 390 ppm.

McKibben and others organized their first worldwide action in 2007, called Step It Up. That was followed last year by an event conducted on October 24 that produced 5,200 demonstrations in 181 countries in what CNN called “the most widespread day of political action in the planet’s history.” The movement is a force to be reckoned with as people across the globe register events on the website for this year’s Global Work Party scheduled for 10/10/10. At press time, 1,057 actions in 118 countries had already been scheduled.

“People will put up solar panels and put in community gardens so that we do not need to rely any longer on fossil fuel,” McKibben said. “We’ll send a sharp political message when we put down our shovels, pick up our cell phones and call our political leaders to action to hammer out some legislation, to say, ‘I’m getting to work; what about you?’

“If we’re not able to do it in the next few years, the consequence will be a world fundamentally altered, unable to deliver anything like the beauty and meaning and integrity of the world we inherited. There are no guarantees of victory, but all over the world, people of good conscience will keep fighting as long and as hard as they can.”

Earlier, award-winning actor Mark Ruffalo urged continued commitment. “Every now and again, we get a chance to come together as a community, and gas drilling happens to be that lousy thing that’s bringing us all together,” he said. “It’s important that we don’t tear ourselves apart over this. If we’re divided, we’re done. People have put themselves out there in a big way to change this, from the bottom up. Everyone has something to offer.”

Following his talk, McKibben reflected. “Sometimes I get worn out and despairing, but around the world, every place we go, there are thousands of people, young people especially, who are ready to go to work.”

Visit 350.org and catskillmountainkeeper.org for more information


TRR photo by Sandy Long
Bill McKibben addresses a crowd of several hundred who attended Catskill Mountainkeeper’s second annual Barnfest in Roscoe, NY. (Click for larger version)


TRR photo by Sandy Long
Actor Mark Ruffalo, event host, introduces Craig and Julie Sautner, of Dimock, PA, who display a bottle of murky water drawn from their well. The Sautners attribute the contamination to gas drilling activities and told the crowd, “Don’t let them do to you what they did to us.” Ruffalo became involved following a visit to Dimock. “What really kicked it off was seeing how those people were living there, with poisoned well water, and the way the gas companies were dealing with them. My wife, Sunrise, and I have three kids. It’s their future, their water that we’re fighting for.” (Click for larger version)

Bill McKibben storms Barnfest

2010-08-05T11:58:00.001-07:00

TRR photo by Sandy Long

Bill McKibben storms Barnfest

Author/activist stokes crowd to ‘Get to Work’ on 10/10/10

By SANDY LONG

Visit 350.org and catskillmountainkeeper.org for more information.


TRR photo by Sandy Long
Bill McKibben addresses a crowd of several hundred who attended Catskill Mountainkeeper’s second annual Barnfest in Roscoe, NY. (Click for larger version)


TRR photo by Sandy Long
Actor Mark Ruffalo, event host, introduces Craig and Julie Sautner, of Dimock, PA, who display a bottle of murky water drawn from their well. The Sautners attribute the contamination to gas drilling activities and told the crowd, “Don’t let them do to you what they did to us.” Ruffalo became involved following a visit to Dimock. “What really kicked it off was seeing how those people were living there, with poisoned well water, and the way the gas companies were dealing with them. My wife, Sunrise, and I have three kids. It’s their future, their water that we’re fighting for.” (Click for larger version)

Bill McKibben storms Barnfest

2010-08-05T11:58:00.000-07:00

Bill McKibben storms Barnfest

Author/activist stokes crowd to ‘Get to Work’ on 10/10/10

By SANDY LONG

Visit 350.org and catskillmountainkeeper.org for more information.


TRR photo by Sandy Long
Bill McKibben addresses a crowd of several hundred who attended Catskill Mountainkeeper’s second annual Barnfest in Roscoe, NY. (Click for larger version)


TRR photo by Sandy Long
Actor Mark Ruffalo, event host, introduces Craig and Julie Sautner, of Dimock, PA, who display a bottle of murky water drawn from their well. The Sautners attribute the contamination to gas drilling activities and told the crowd, “Don’t let them do to you what they did to us.” Ruffalo became involved following a visit to Dimock. “What really kicked it off was seeing how those people were living there, with poisoned well water, and the way the gas companies were dealing with them. My wife, Sunrise, and I have three kids. It’s their future, their water that we’re fighting for.” (Click for larger version)


TRR photo by Sandy Long
Children perform to the Woody Guthrie tune, “This Land is Your Land,” singing, “This land is our land. It’s not a gasland. Think of our future. It’s all in our hands. From the Delaware River, to the Catskill forests, we need our land to be drill-free.” (Click for larger version)

December 21, 2009, AFP: Gas 'gold rush' ignites in rural New York

2009-12-21T06:02:00.001-08:00

Gas 'gold rush' ignites in rural New York
link to complete article is here: http://www.laredosun.us/notas.asp?id=2156

Pete Diehl (L), his son Adam (R) and their dog Boney on the family dairy farm December 14, 2009 in Callicoon, New York, about 120 miles (193 Km) northwest of New York City. The Diehls have refused to sign an agreement with energy companies to allow drilling rights on their land for access to part of the largest natural gas reserve in the US. AFP PHOTO

After a lifetime struggling to make money from the land, New York farmer Bill Graby has discovered he's sitting on treasure -- possibly the biggest natural gas deposit in America.

Sunday, December 20, 2009
By: Sebastian Smith

CALLICOON, December 20, 2009 (AFP) - After a lifetime struggling to make money from the land, New York farmer Bill Graby has discovered he's sitting on treasure -- possibly the biggest natural gas deposit in America.

"It's like winning the lottery," says the 6.6-foot (two-meter) dairy farmer from the picturesque town of Callicoon in the Catskills hills.

The deposit, called the Marcellus shale, stretches all the way from New York to Tennessee, containing 168 to 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to New York State's Department of Environmental Conservation.

That dwarfs the previous big daddy, the Barnett shale in Texas, and by industry estimates could meet all US gas needs for years.

"The size is potentially tremendous for the nation as a whole," John Felmy, chief economist for the American Petroleum Institute, told a Pennsylvania College of Technology conference last month.

Environmentalists fear intense drilling could bring ecological disaster to the same pristine Catskills that also contain New York City's entire drinking water supply.

Many others, though, foresee an economic miracle that could turn an impoverished section of New York into "a Little Texas," as 56-year-old Graby puts it.

These are early days. Extraction is underway in Pennsylvania, but New York's authorities are still debating regulatory approval, with a decision expected in 2010.

Yet already energy companies are swarming across the countryside, offering to make millionaires of cash-strapped farmers like Graby in exchange for drilling rights on their land.

The economics are self-evident. There's not only gas, but a huge market nearby in New York and New Jersey, and a transport network that includes a big new pipeline opened a year ago to bring gas from Canada.

In a region blighted by bankrupt farms and a struggling tourist industry, the excitement is palpable.

"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity that can change this region," Graby said at Callicoon's old-fashioned cafe/petrol station by the snow-lined Delaware River.

Geologists long knew about the Marcellus Shale, which formed about 385 million years ago and extends more than 7,000 feet (2,133 meters) underground, mostly under New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.

But development was unprofitable until recent improvements in horizontal, rather than ordinary vertical drills, and in an extraction process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

"Nobody cared much about shales. They were all around us, but then the price of gas rose and there were some techniques that were quite useful... that made shales much more attractive," said Gary Lash, a geosciences professor at SUNY Fredonia university and an expert on the Marcellus.

In southern New York, the result is what the state's Department of Environmental Conservation likens to a "modern-day gold rush."

Graby and former teacher Noel van Swol have formed a landowners' association to bargain collectively with the gas companies.

A couple years ago, drilling rights were being sold to fast-talking company reps, or landmen, for a pittance. Now, they trade for small fortunes: about 5,000 dollars an acre for a five-year drilling lease and a whopping 20 percent of royalties on gas extracted, van Swol said.

That means a farmer leasing 200 acres would collect a million dollars upfront -- and the same again for an extension -- plus potentially astronomical royalties.

"It's the big play. This changes lives," says van Swol, sporting a solid gold ring decorated with an American Indian chief that he says brings him gambler's luck.

"This is game changing."

-- Gas or water? --

--------------------

Natural gas is a relatively clean-burning fuel, but the extraction process needed in the Marcellus is not pretty.

Fracking involves shooting enormous quantities of water, mixed with chemicals and sand, at extreme pressure into the subterranean rock, smashing shale and forcing out gas.

The process is often likened to an earthquake.

Ramsay Adams, executive director at Catskill Mountainkeeper environmental group, says the biggest worry is what happens next, when the poisonous mix is locked underground in the same hills as New York's drinking water aquifers.

"Thirty percent of these millions of millions of gallons of water are left down there," Adams said.

"Ultimately it will migrate up and go downstream. You could find the contamination downstream. No one knows. The gas companies don't know."

The gas industry says fracking is safe because gas wells are sealed from the water table, which is closer to the Earth's surface.

"Environmental extremists have poisoned the natural gas debate by implying that drilling operators will pollute our water and air," said Brad Gill, director of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York.

"They have used bad science and twisted facts to oppose natural gas exploration."

New York's environmental body also says that "no known instances of groundwater contamination have occurred from previous horizontal drilling or hydraulic fracturing projects" during previous projects in the state.

But Adams and other environmentalists are lobbying for swaths of countryside to be off-limits, especially anywhere near to what Adams considers New York's true treasure -- water.

"They think they have found the Saudi Arabia of natural gas," Adams said, "but we are the Saudi Arabia of fresh water."

Many opposing the gas rush are second home owners from New York aghast at the idea of drilling rigs scarring the landscape.

Yet holdouts also include the Diehl family, which has been farming the same river valley outside Callicoon for six generations.

"It's all about the water. It's what we drink, it's what our animals drink. And once the aquifers are breached, you can't fix them," Alice Diehl, 58, said in the cozy kitchen of her hilltop house.

To compensate for a collapse in milk prices, the Diehls are working overtime on everything from making maple syrup and honey to selling Christmas trees.

They say nothing can persuade them to risk contaminating their beloved land, where Diehl ancestors lie buried among a copse of trees in a broad field.

"Money isn't everything," said Alice's husband Peter, a wiry, bearded man of 65. He looked out over the snow-covered valley. "They can pay you a lot, but if they ruin the land, you have nothing."

Alice Diehl smiled as she recalled a gas company landman coming to the house last summer and promising to make them "multi-millionaires."

"Pete just ran him off," she said.

As New York's authorities get closer to ruling, tensions are running high.

Van Swol compares environmentalists to Soviet dictators and Adams acknowledges that people like van Swol "probably see me as the devil. I'm standing between them and that money."

Peter Diehl even finds himself arguing with his own brothers, who farm other parts of the family's valley. All their signatures would be needed to deal with a gas company.

"It makes things a little tense at Christmas," as Alice Diehl said.

In the Callicoon cafe, the air was full of expectation.

"I want to see those drilling rigs coming into town!" exclaimed one local as he greeted van Swol and Graby.

"You and me both," van Swol answered.

Later, van Swol said: "When those permits get approved here, all hell's going to break loose."

sms/ao/ns

December 21, 2009, AFP: Gas 'gold rush' ignites in rural New York

2009-12-21T06:02:00.000-08:00

Gas 'gold rush' ignites in rural New York

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After a lifetime struggling to make money from the land, New York farmer Bill Graby has discovered he's sitting on treasure -- possibly the biggest natural gas deposit in America.

Sunday, December 20, 2009
By: Sebastian Smith

CALLICOON, December 20, 2009 (AFP) - After a lifetime struggling to make money from the land, New York farmer Bill Graby has discovered he's sitting on treasure -- possibly the biggest natural gas deposit in America.