The Marcellus Shale, which reaches beneath the southern tier of New York and into Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia is one of the largest fossil-fuel reserves in the Western Hemisphere and could yield as much as 20 times as our natural current output of natural gas. You might think that such a large energy reserve seems too good to be true, and perhaps it is. It gets its name from a town in Western New York where there the shale formation juts out above the ground. The region’s energy richness has been known for decades. But extracting the natural gas from the pores in the shale in a way that would be cost effective and efficient has always been a problem.

Hydraulic Fracturing (mostly shortened to hydrofracking) was determined to be an efficient way of extracting the methane gas from the shale. The process is not new, it has been used in the oil industry for more than 60 years. Only in the past several years, with the rising cost of fossil fuels, has it been determined by the energy industry that the Marcellus Shale is worth hydrofracking’s high cost.

Hydrofracking removes fossil fuels from shale by pumping a pressurized cocktail of toxic liquids, diesel fuel and water, into the shale to fracture the rock, which would in turn release the fossil fuel, in this case natural gas. These fractures are then maintained after the injection by introducing materials such as sand, ceramic, or other particulates, that prevent the fractures from closing when the fluid injection is stopped. The water, diesel, and other chemicals that is left over is stored in pools, sometimes unlined, above the surface until it is hauled away for treatment or disposal.

Some landowners in the Marcellus Shale area are experiencing a modern day gold rush. Energy-industry representatives are paying princely sums, rumored to be as high as eight figures in some cases, to obtain drilling rights beneath private property.

But environmentalists are warning that hydrofracking is not only bad for the region, it can cause a catastrophe in New York as great, if not greater, than the ongoing Gulf of Mexico oil spill. They’ve presented evidence that it can provoke earthquakes and above-ground explosions, and that it can pollute our groundwater and create dry beds out of our streams, ponds, and rivers, which are used to supply resources for the hydrofracking process.

In Pennsylvania, where hydrofracking has been taking place in the Marcellus Shale, wells have been ruined, tainted with salt, benzene, and other toxic and volatile chemicals. There is evidence that these compounds have also entered into nearby streams, not only affecting fish, but nearby farms that use this water for irrigation.

The problems with hydrofracking in have been outlined in the documentary Gasland, which is currently playing on the premium cable network HBO. The most famous segment of the film shows a resident near a hydrofracking well setting his methane-infused tap water on fire in his kitchen.

Environmentalists point to evidence from hydrofracking regions in Wyoming, Colorado of people and wildlife being made sick from the process. Diseases such as rare adrenal tumors and cancers are attributed to the extremely toxic compound “2-BE” that’s used in the process. There is no list of the chemicals used in hydrofracking, but clean-up sites left in the wake of the process have shown excess levels of toxins such as hydrochloric acid, benzene, toulene, and xylene (the last three toxins are commonly found in diesel fuel).

Why is the list of chemicals used in hydrofracking kept secret? Perhaps it had to do with a conflict of interest between the Bush Administration and the energy corporations, specifically Halliburton.

In 2005, the energy industry was exempted from clean water protections by the Bush Administration. As part of Vice President Dick Cheney’s infamous and secretive “Energy Task Force” in 2001, the captains of the energy industry and the administration touted hydrofracking as the future of fossil-fuel extraction, while redacting any evidence of human health hazards caused by the process. Halliburton, the company that pioneered and continues to develop and utilize hydrofracking, benefited greatly from the Bush Administration’s deference to the energy industry. Thus, the lack of clean water provisions in regard to energy development are known as the “Halliburton Loophole.”

Vice President Cheney, if you need be reminded, was the CEO of Halliburton prior to becoming Vice President. He continued to be paid millions a year in deferred compensation from his vested financial interests in the corporation while serving in the Bush Administration.

Where does New York stand on hydrofracking? Right now, industry-supported State laws are in effect to disencumber hydrofracking in the Marcellus Shale and New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation has been busy stamping permits for drilling. But the DEC might be moving the process along too quickly: Instead of studying the environmental impacts of each individual well (which is typically needed under State law) the DEC has opted to hastily get through this process by only gauging the collective impact of the hydraulic fracturing process. Such generic evaluations are similar to the type of loose regulation used in deep water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. These evaluations can also be easily disputed by the legal departments of large energy interests. In effect, New York’s DEC has chosen to marginalize its impact as the lead regulatory agency and seems more than happy to perform a mediocre job of protecting our state’s environment.

But local governments are stepping up and taking action and there is particular concern in this region. While Rockland County is outside of the Marcellus shale, it is only a short 70 miles from its eastern boundary and our natural water systems are directly affected.

Rockland County may take action soon in calling on Governor Paterson to impose a moritorium on hydrofracking. The County Legislature’s Environmental committee has recently passed a resolution calling for this. County legislator Connie Coker, who chairs the committee is hopeful that this resolution will be passed by the full legislature after its referred to them in a meeting on July 6.

“This procedure presents many environmental, human and wildlife health concerns,” said Legislator Coker […] the prime sponsor of the resolution. “There is the potential to contaminate groundwater, the surrounding landscape and the quality of air. What happens to all that solid material that is no longer just innocent sand, but toxic waste? This resolution asks the Governor to impose a moratorium and to withdraw the flawed impact statement until the results of on-going studies are made available, studied and concluded. I believe it would be viewed as a responsible and prudent action on his part.”

Clarkstown Town Clerk, David Carlucci, who is running for State Senate in the 38th District, which includes Rockland County and parts of Orange County, is also calling for a moratorium, and says that in many respects hydrofracking is New York’s equivalent to the Gulf of Mexico’s deep water oil drilling process and must be treated with similar seriousness. A recent press release form his campaign makes some lucid points about further reviewing the hydrofracking process:

It is my belief that we do not know enough about either side of this issue to allow widespread hydro-fracking in the Marcellus Shale and the Utica Shale formations to begin. We need to thoroughly investigate and understand reports of ground water and nearby stream contamination as well as the health impact to local residents before we jump into this process, or we may end up with an environmental disaster on our hands. Such a disaster would make any economic gain offered by the gas companies seem small by comparison.

Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef, who is running against Carlucci for the open Senate seat, has worked as an environmental attorney in the past. Disappointingly, he has not issued a statement concerning the Marcellus Shale in either his capacity as the advocate for the county, nor as a possible future State Senator, which may have to make decisions about hydrofracking going forward.

There is bigger concern in New York City. It’s source of drinking water is in the Catskill watershed, some of it within the Marcellus Shale. New York is one of the few municipalities that gets its water untreated from its reserviors. Contamination of New York City’s water supply would be a man-made disaster of monumental proportions and affect the health of more than 8 million people.

Until we get some answers and perhaps some alternatives to the chemicals and processes used in hydrofracking, residents of Rockland and Orange Counties need to back resolutions to call for a moratorium of this process in New York State.

This article is based on a similar piece written for the Left of the Hudson blog.

This will be an incredibly enlightening and informative show. Vince and I will talk about the upcoming State Senate election, the candidates, and some radical state reform ideas. If you have a question for Vince, send me an email before the show. The live show is available on Rockland World Radio‘s main page and the archived show will be available here afterwards.

With the State Budget being held hostage by the dysfunctional State legislature, Governor Paterson’s draconian recommendations have kicked in and, once again, New York families and communities are the loser.

But the Republicans might have an idea, it seems. On the eve of the park closings, in a mailing from State Senator Thomas Morahan, there is a push poll asking constituents if we should privatize our parks. Read on, I’m not making this up.

The mailer contains the “2010 Legislative Questionnaire.” This is a one-sided survey as it has very limited questions with an even more limited range of answers, that range from fiscally moderate to ultra-conservative. The possible range of responses pushes respondents to right-of-center conclusions. There’s no room for a progressive answer anywhere in the questionnaire.

More to the point, question #4 asks:

Which of the following aspects of government should be privatized? (check all that apply)

Highway and roadway maintenance
Corrections
Parks and Recreation
Health care
Transportation
Education

But beware, this isn’t a legitimate survey. It’s a politician playing craps with public opinion using a pair of loaded dice. This is an attempt by New York State Republicans to push through an agenda by attempting to change public perception.

This recent push poll is not unlike others. It is a underhanded political technique where Senator Morahan is trying to sway public sentiment and opinion by bringing certain issues to the forefront. There is very little science behind this polling process. And while a large number of people are contacted, little or no effort will be made to collect or analyze their responses. I know from experience that analyzing polls is very cost prohibitive and Senator Morahan’s office does not have the time, nor the resources to analyze the data. So this survey cannot possibly provide an accurate gauge of the pulse of the 38th State Senate district. It’s no wonder that push polling has been condemned by good-government groups and even the American Association of Political Consultants. And in New Hampshire, push polling is downright illegal.

Closing our public parks is just plain wrong. The Stony Point Battlefield is critically important to the economy of the Town of Stony Point as visitors to the site often spend money at the town’s shops during their visit. The Tallman Mountain pool is the only public pool in the entire town of Orangetown. They are now gone; they may never come back.

Worse than closing the parks is entertaining the cynical idea that they should now be privatized. And trying to push public opinion to this conclusion using taxpayer money is unethical to say the least.

There’s a sad irony to all of this: Mailings from our State legislature cost taxpayers $27.3 million per year and they are nothing more than incumbency insurance, or political campaigning paid for by our tax dollars. That amount is roughly the same as the $29 million that has been cut from our State Parks, resulting in today’s closings. So shouldn’t there be a question on Senator Morahan’s survey asking if we should do away with legislative mailings?

We do have taxpayer-financed elections. They are called Senate and Assembly mailings,” said Lise Bang-Jensen, a senior policy analyst at the Manhattan Institute’s Empire Center for New York State Policy, which analyzes state payroll and legislative office expenses.

Recently, Greg Ball, a Republican State Assembly member from Putnam County who is running for the State Senate, sent out mailings—paid for by our tax dollars—to promote an April 15 Tax Day protest event where he and several other “Tea Party” candidates made campaign speeches bragging how they’ll fight for taxpayers. Just how ironic is that?
It gets  worse, it’s alleged that Ball’s mailings didn’t only go out to his constituents, those in the larger 40th Senate District (that don’t live in Ball’s 99th Assembly District) complain that they got the Tax Day Protest invitations, which also tout the Assembly member as a “real leader and reformer.” The legality of the mailings are currently being challenged by Ball’s opponent and other regional politicians. This isn’t the first time these mailing privileges have been misused, and it certainly won’t be the last.

I often like to refer to the legislature’s mailing as “incumbency insurance.” The practice is not only cynical, questionably ethical, and easily abused, it’s outrageously expensive, costing New York taxpayers $27.3 million per year. That princely sum is roughly equivalent to the cuts being proposed to our State Parks system, cuts that might close 55 park services, including the pool at Tallman State Park and the Stony Point Battlefield.

With more efficient, and much less expensive communications such as Web sites, e-mail, and text messaging available, it’s time that we do away with taypayer-funded mailings. Also, think of the good we’d be doing our environment by eliminating these mailings; imagine of the natural resources and fuel we’d save over time.

So, make it a point to take your State legislature members and candidates to task over this issue. Demand that they support doing away with outmoded, expensive, and environmentally insensitive practice. And demand that they use taxpayer dollars for the good of all New Yorkers, and not for the reelection campaigns of a few politicians.

Well, this is good news that the Putnam teabagger, Greg Ball has dropped out of the race. (Although the timing, right after the Republican ballyhooed a poll showing him within striking distance of John Hall, makes the timing slightly suspect.)

Still, this isn’t great news. Westchester Opthamologist Nan Hayworth will not have a Republican primary opponent and Rep. John Hall (D) still has a tough race ahead of him.

Ball announced Saturday that he’s abandoning his campaign for the 19th Congressional District seat held by Hall, and will run instead for State Senate in 2010.

In a press release Saturday afternoon, Ball, who is from Putnam County, said he’ll run for the the 40th District State Senate seat currently held by Republican Vincent Leibell.  The State Senate district includes parts of Dutchess, Putnam and Westchester counties.

John Hall’s congressional district includes a portion of northern Rockland and southern Orange Counties on this side of the river.

Ball narrates an incident from his childhood that sowed the seeds for his passion. “My godmother was personal secretary to Joseph Kennedy, the father of Jack Kennedy. As an infant I had cat-scratch fever, and Jean Kennedy- Smith, Jack Kennedy’s sister, asked my parents to take me to a hospital. When my parents said they couldn’t afford it, she said she would take care of everything. And, within five minutes, there were 10 doctors around me. I think those little interactions that I had as a kid with that family in particular showed me how well power could be used.”

He feels that people should use their abilities to impact others positively, because there is both good and evil in this world. “Evil exists, and we have to fight it at every turn.”

I must say, what a compassionate clan the Kennedy family has been, and despite their wealth they took it upon themselves to care for a small baby who was, at the very best, tenuously connected to them. And this interaction with the Kennedy family taught Ball to demonize a healthcare system with a public-option? I’m not sure how such compassion teaches someone to be so selfish and uncaring.

What’s even more amazing is that Joseph Kennedy was dead for some eight years before Greg was born in 1977, but the compassionate Kennedy clan, according to Ball, cared enough to keep in touch with their deceased patriarch’s secretary’s godson. Had not Ball’s blue-collar family had this distant connection, what would they have done?

And what a great bit of irony, considering that Greg is now campaigning against American families getting the health care that they need with his so-called town halls, which are nothing but homespun demagoguery, fake outrage, and misinformation directed at the people he hopes to serve.

Unforunately, I, like most every American, don’t have connections to the Kennedys or any other ultra-wealthy family.

My son, who is on the autistic spectrum, has had more than $30,000 in medical bills that two health-insurance companies refused to cover. It put my family on the brink of financial ruin. Assemblyman Ball and his family should feel blessed to have such friends to pay for his health care when he was a child. Wouldn’t Greg Ball want every child to have an opportunity to have to see a doctor when their health is imperiled without bankrupting their families?

I think it’s time that this Congressional candidate did some sincere soul searching before he spreads more fear and lies about the health-care reform that Ted Kennedy so wanted for all American families.

Tonight I attended a forum on health care with Greg Ball, NYS Assemblyman who is challenging John Hall in the 19th Congressional district in 2010. 

Mr. Ball opened the meeting by stating that he was there to hear all perspectives on “government-run” health-care.

The first speaker stood up and began to rant –quite inarticulately- about how socialism was evil. She mentioned no specifics or facts that related to any of the five health care bills presently in Congress. 

The next speaker did the same. This continued for forty-five minutes. Again and again, individuals –mostly elder- would stand up and do anything from rant against socialism to complain that illegal immigrants were covered in the bill (“Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States,” taken directly from section 246). Many complained that abortion would be mandated in the bill (also untrue) and whined about the high cost, despite the fact that the bill is deficit neutral. Others complained about government rationing, seemingly and conveniently ignoring the fact that individuals can keep their private insurance under the new plan if they desire. More made comparisons to the English and Canadian system, ignoring the fact that the proposed bills implement a public option, not a single payer system. Others whined that the bill would destroy small businesses by mandating that they insure their employees, despite the fact that this mandate applies only to small businesses with a payroll of $500,000 or more. Others skipped concrete complaints altogether, and merely rampaged against President Obama and his perceived socialist agenda. 

After forty-five minutes of this, I stepped outside. There I saw Bob, another man who I knew was on one of the local Democratic committees but couldn’t name, and Jonathon Jacobson, the Chair of the Orange County Democratic Committee. They were all talking about how terrible this event was, and Bob mused that he didn’t realize “how many morons lived in Orange County.” I mentioned that somebody had to say something at least relatively rational- we could not afford to legitimize these radical and extremist opinions by forwarding no response of our own. There was mumbling, and it was obvious nobody was stepping up to the plate.  

I walked back inside and got on line. I wrote a few notes in my cell phone, trying to find where I could possibly start, how I could possibly break down a sea of misinformation, anger, and confusion and counter what was unfolding before my eyes with rational remarks founded in fact. I waited on line for about twenty minutes while searching for the answer.

Medicare seemed to be a good place to start. The crowd was overwhelmingly composed of senior citizens, and there had been much complaining about cuts to Medicare. I knew that the truth is that individual Medicare plans won’t be touched- the $500B savings over ten years that President Obama talks about is derived from the increased leverage that the federal government will have to negotiate rates with pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and doctors as a result of the increased number of people under government jurisdiction in the public option. Yet I knew that was too complex to explain, and that I would be cut off before I could even finish.

Finally it was my turn. As I took the mic, I looked out at the crowd. “My name is Sam Sussman,”* I said, “and I live in Chester. May I see, by a show of hands, how many of you are on Medicare?” Almost everybody raised his or her hand. “OK,” I continued. “We have a system whereby health insurance for senior citizens is subsidized, because if it wasn’t, you wouldn’t be able to afford health care. What would be wrong with doing the same for those who presently cannot afford health care?” 

The crowd went nuts. There was screaming and booing. Some yelled, “We worked for ours!” obviously missing the points that Medicare is subsidized, and that many people without insurance also work. 

One woman yelled out “It’s not our problem, it’s not our responsibility!” I was taken by the outrageous audience response, and was unable to speak over the noise for a few moments, but at this I began to speak again. “Oh, it’s not your responsibility?” I said, voice rising. “It’s not your problem? Guess what, people die in America because they don’t have health care. That’s wrong. It is our problem. It is our responsibility. We’re all Americans and we’re all in this together.”

The crowd kept going. They were yelling, screaming, booing. Many yelled out “Let him speak,” but others called for me to step down. One of Ball’s aides came over to me and asked for the mic until the crowd calmed down. I handed it to him. 

Ball, who had been sitting about seven to eight feet away from me, stood up and took the mic. “How many veterans do we have here?” he asked. Many hands went up. “OK,” he said, “you fought for this. You fought for freedom of speech.” Then he turned to me. “But you know you were the first person to get up here and yell, and you didn’t need to do that.” I was outraged. I had only raised my voice because the entire crowd of some 200 people were screaming and booing me in an attempt to drown me out. Jan Howe stood up and yelled something to that effect in my support (thanks Jan! 

Ball then handed me the mic and sat down.

I continued. “You mention veterans, sir,” I said, turning to him. “You served, correct?” He responded in the affirmative. “Thank you for your service, sir. We have single payer for our veterans through the VA. How do you feel about giving government-run health care to those who gave their blood, sweat, and tears for America?”

Ball responded by telling me that he knew a woman whose husband had died under the VA system, and that, therefore, they weren’t too happy with “government health care.” This has been a conservative style of argument since Ronald Reagan’s 1964 A Time for Choosing speech, and probably before that. Conservatives are great at pointing out one or two people who take advantage of the system, or one horror story in a government-run program, and then move from that single example to the conclusion that the whole system or program is flawed. These sorts of arguments are devoid of any logic and ignore the basic fact that no system is perfect and no program flawless. 

I motioned for the mic back. Ball hesitated, but finally gave it to me. 

“So then you support repealing the VA single payer system as it stands now?” I asked.

The crowd took over from here. One man in the front yelled out “This is not a debate.” Another man to my right started screaming at me. Many in the crowd were yelling at me to leave. (It should be noted that my remarks were much shorter than most other speakers, even with the back and forth with Ball, and that only one person was cut off the whole night, after a solid 15 minutes). 

Ball did not respond to my remark. The next few second are fuzzy in my mind, but there was more yelling and the aide indicated I should give up the mic. I handed it to the next man on line. He remarked that he was going to “give me a civics lesson.” I was still standing in front of the room, and I shot back at him, saying, “I just spent two months in Congress, sir.”

At the word ‘Congress,’ the crowd reacted with more anger than they had displayed in response to any of my earlier remarks. They hissed, booed, and yelled. To them, this was the obvious and heretofore missing explanation: I was a brainwashed Washington tool who knew nothing at all. Great irony exists in the fact that part of the reason I initially stepped up is that I have dealt with this issue intensely for two months and felt an obligation to share my knowledge with the crowd. But they weren’t having it. As the man had said, “this is not a debate.” Despite Ball’s promise, nobody in the audience –including him- wanted to hear anything but the myths and absurdities that they all clung to so tightly. Difference of opinion was not going to be tolerated. 

The man continued to talk as a few people came up to me. One man told me that my problem was that I evidently don’t watch FOX News. Another man came up to me and said, “I’m from Romania. I can tell you all about the evils of communism.” I’m sure he could, and I would have loved to hear, but I’m still trying to figure out how a public option fits into Marxism. Yet, because facts and history had not been skewed enough in one night, the woman after the man who followed me compared Obama to Hitler.. 

Afterwards, many people approached me. Some shook my hand and commended my courage. Others tried to argue with me. I attempted to explain calmly and rationally the truth behind many of the false and malicious rumors, ranging from euthanasia to Medicare cuts to the myth that all people can get health care in America. 

(This is important and warrants explanation. In 1986, Congress passed the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. This law states that emergency rooms cannot reject patients who are uninsured. It does not ensure medical treatment for the life-saving treatment that is often quite extensive, however, although the misperception is it does. For example, if you walk into an emergency room with cancer, you won’t be treated. Also, EMTALA does not cover surgery of any kind. So if you are uninsured in American and you get cancer, you die.) 

So this is what we are up against. Greg Ball is young, energetic, good-looking and articulate. He will excite Republicans in the 19th district with an energy that John Hall does not project. 

Ball is traveling around the district and using the fear and anger of the American people as a trampoline for his political career. It should be noted that Ball never corrected or clarified the words of anybody who spoke at the event, including people who said that death panels were included in the bill, the woman who compared Obama to Hitler, and the man who memorably and repeatedly called the bill “a license to kill.” If he were truly interested in talking about health care reform, and not just appearing as if he’s the man to save everybody from an evil government scheme that does not exist, he would not have allowed these insulting and untrue statements to go uncorrected. Greg Ball is an exploiter and opportunist who must be stopped. 

Yet who is going to stop him? The Democratic showing was weak. One party leader appeared for half an hour, said nothing, and left. Another high-ranking Orange Dem had courage enough to speak a few words on the side to a camera, but not enough to address the audience at large. Nobody else spoke out in support of a public option or single payer. 

Where are our voices? Who is going to stand up for the uninsured and underprivileged? What are we so afraid of? Screaming crowds of misinformed senior citizens? Please. 

We are up against the great challenge that the progressive movement has always faced: The fact that is that it is always easier to scare somebody who is satisfied into maintaining the status quo at the costs of others than it is to encourage those individuals, through rational argument and compassionate appeal, to support something that serves the greater good. 

We must be the ones to articulate the facts and the truth in support of our objective. And we must recognize that this can never be done through silence. SS. 

*These are obviously not my exact words, as I cannot recall them verbatim, but I estimate that they’re 90% word-for-word.

Ball is using this insincere forum to spread his own dangerous ultraconservative demagoguery. These misleading “town halls,” if we leave them to Ball and his supporters, will contain nothing but fabricated, bombastic, and inflammatory rhetoric. They are meant to be a dog and pony show staged for the local and national media to demonstrate that the constituents of the 19th Congressional District are rabidly against health care. Ball is shamelessly staging this chicanery to exploit an issue that is more moral than political to further his career advancement.

Whether you support a single-payer or public option universal health care plan, you must help stop Assemblyman Ball from making a mockery and political football out of such a critical moral issue.

I’m asking that those that stand for real health-care reform—especially those in the 19th Congressional District—attend one of these flimflam meetings to show our unity. Barrage Ball and his acolytes with thoughtful questions and educated statements, but do not heckle or interrupt the speakers as the Republican-paid activists have done.

It’s critical that we step up our efforts now for affordable health care and move toward universal health care. As our health-care system is currently structured, the system will become financially unsustainable in five to ten years. If you think the economy is in a funk right now, what will it be like when some 100 million people are without health care coverage and skyrocketing health care costs financially cripple those with insurance?

There is no issue so critical to our nation’s economic future as health-care reform. Please don’t allow the obstructionist Republicans to make a mockery of it.

Here are a list of events to attend below:

Greg Ball and Assemblywoman Annie Rabbit
Monday, August 17th, 7 PM (doors open 6:30)
Greenwood Lake American Legion Arthur Finnegan Post
40 Mountain Lakes Lane
Greenwood Lake

Greg Ball and Town Supervisor Oan Pagonez
Wednesday August 19th 7 PM, (doors open 6:30)
(Note new location)
Hotel Sierra Suites Conference Room
100 Westage Business Center Dr, Fishkill, NY 12524

Greg Ball and Cornwall Town Supervisor Kevin Quigley
Friday, August 21st 7 PM (doors open 6:30)
Munger Cottage – Cornwall Community Center
183 Main St.
Cornwall, NY 12518