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Our petition efforts have encouraged the Cochecton Town Board to agree to the above special town meeting to allow public comment about drilling and fracking in Cochecton.
It is vital that those of you who can attend plan to do so to make your feelings known to the board. This meeting is for public comment and each person will probably be limited to three minutes depending on the turnout. If you can't be there, please write an email or a letter to the board members at the addresses below. Ask that your note be read aloud at the meeting or at least publicly counted. Please BCC your email to frackban@cochecton.org so we can make sure the board has read and acknowledged your comments.
Our town board is best influenced by civility and decorum. It will not be necessary to raise our voices to raise our concerns.
Please prepare a short statement to read to the board.
TELL THEM:
- Who you are, what you do, how long you have been in Cochecton and why you love it and don't want it damaged by heavy industry.
- That you wish you could trust the state regulators to protect you but history has shown that without the will or the funding, they probably won't do a good job of it.
- That the gas industry has lobbied to gut safety regulations at the state and federal level and has consistently flaunted those that have survived.
- That you did your own research and you made up your own mind about this.
- Any personal stories you have about people who were hurt by fracking.
- About your fears for your property value and your family's health.
Please come and join us to secure the future of Cochecton. This meeting will make history. Be there.
Gary Maas Supervisor supervisor@townofcochectonny.org
Larry Richardson lrichardson@townofcochectonny.org
Ed Grund egrund@townofcochectonny.org
Anna Story astory@townofcochectonny.org
Richard Shulman rschulman@townofcochectonny.org
Send your letters by post:
Cochecton Town Hall
74 Smales Road
Lake Huntington, NY 12752
Click Here to sign an agreement not to lease your land for natural gas with horizontal hydrofracture.
Click Here to read the joint press release from Keep Cochecton Green and Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy.
Currently the most pressing issue for residents of the Town of Cochecton, as well as the rest of Sullivan County is natural gas drilling.
This area sits atop the Marcellus Shale which stretches from western Pennsylvania thru Sullivan County.
The shale contains natural gas which can be accessed thru vertical and horizontal drilling and a process called "fracking" which was developed by Halliburton.
Fracking requires the injection of huge amounts of water, sand and chemicals into the ground to fracture the shale and allow the natural gas to escape.
Some of the chemicals used in the process have been identified and include know carcinogens but, because the fracking process is exempt from EPA regulations including the Safe Drinking Water Act, the drilling companies do not have to disclose the chemicals they are using.
So as a result neither the government not its citizens are fully informed as to all the risks created by this process.
But it is known that there are enormous environmental and health risks with the contamination of aquifers, springs, rivers and streams as well as atmospheric pollution from escaping gases.
Shale drilling and fracking has been used in Colorado, Wyoming and Texas and there is sufficient evidence from these operations to know the environmental degradation that is part and parcel of this heavy industry.
Read Keep Cochecton Green's Presentations to the Cochecton Planning Board
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