NYC DEP Punked by the Yes Men by Lissa Harris - Watershed Post

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No, the sticker above -- which, according to the Wall Street Journal, has been spotted near public faucets around New York City lately -- isn't the work of the NYC Department of Environmental Protection. It's part of a pretty slick anti-fracking campaign, complete with a website (www.nyc-dep.org) dressed up to look almost exactly like the DEP's actual site. There's also a fake "DEP" video, with instructions on how to tell if your water is safe. (Hint: Try to set it on fire.)

The stickers, and the official-looking fake website that goes along with them, appear to be the work of the Yes Men, a group of activist merry pranksters that specialize in the art of the well-played anti-corporate hoax. Just last month, they gulled the Associated Press into running a story declaring that General Electric would be returning its $3.2 billion tax refund to the U.S. government. And back in 2000, they famously impersonated the World Trade Organization via a fake website (www.gatt.org) that earned them an invitation to speak at a seminar on international trade in Austria. (A rather extraordinary drama then unfolded, in which the Yes Men's "WTO representative" spoke at the seminar, was hit in the face with a pie, and subsequently "died.")

Regular Watershed Post readers might recognize the name: The Yes Men were canonized just a couple of weeks ago, along with local anti-fracking activist and radio personality Sabrina Artel, in a ceremony conducted by the Rev. Billy Talen (himself a fellow anti-corporate prankster who performs exorcisms on cash registers, backed up by a gospel choir in full regalia).

Though DEP officials were quick to disavow the stickers, the anti-fracking sentiment behind the stunt isn't too far from their real views on the subject. Department officials aren't big fans of the idea of doing horizontal drilling for natural gas within spitting distance of the city's watershed. From a statement on the DEP's actual website:

While DEP is mindful of the potential economic opportunity that this represents for the State, hydraulic fracturing poses an unacceptable threat to the unfiltered water supply of nine million New Yorkers and cannot safely be permitted with the New York City watershed.

Photo by Flickr user prizepony. Published under Creative Commons license.

Volunteers Embark On Earth Day Cleanups by Roger Clark - NY1.com

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Volunteers all over the city spent Friday cleaning up recreational areas to mark Earth Day.

In Queens, the Hindu community took part in a cleanup of Jamaica Bay where offerings from religious ceremonies are creating environmental concerns.

The space, part of the National Park Service's gateway recreation area, is near the North Channel Bridge in Broad Channel.

"We come here and we make our offerings to the mother, because we believe the water for us is mother. She is a deity, what we worship. But at the same time we need to keep our mother clean, too. So after making our offerings into the water we should clean up after that," said Hindu Priest Chunelall Narine.

"We do promote a healthy environment, and although it's hard for some to understand the different situation that we're in, we do respect the community and we hope to clean up for Earth Day and to promote a good environment," said Clean-Up Volunteer Kamelia Kilawan.

For the past five years, park rangers have been working with the Hindu community to educate worshipers about the dangers posed to the environment and wildlife when leaving behind ritual items, like pieces of fruit and coconut shells.

"They can disrupt food chains and delay migration, they certainly can affect the water quality of Jamaica Bay," said Kathy Krause, Gateway National Recreation Area.

"It is our responsibility and duty to protect, to do whatever we can to protect the earth and keep the earth as clean as possible," said Hindu Community Leader Bhoj Dindiyal.

Other events across the city are focusing on green businesses and green cars.

Friday marks the 41st annual Earth Day celebration.

Earth Day 2011 - RETRO Anti-Pollution Ad with Native American - 1970s

Many of us have seen this commercial a million times as children, and learned not to litter.

Walter Hang's Comments Regarding Executive Order No. 41 - Sign the Petition

Please take a moment to sign the Coalition Letter to Governor Cuomo Regarding Executive Order No. 41: Requiring Further Environmental Review of High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing Combined With Horizontal Drilling...


Remember this about saving our clean drinking water supply...


To sign the letter click here...

8 Arrested for Dumping Raw Sewage Into Sheepshead Bay by Jonathan Eiseman - msnbc.com

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Eight people have been arrested for dumping raw sewage and restaurant grease into Shell Bank Creek in Sheepshead Bay, the Kings County District Attorney's office announced Wednesday.

Three corporations, including Regal Cinemas multiplex and TGI Friday's, also face charges in connection with the illegal dumps, District Attorney Charles Hynes said.

“There is no excuse for the disgraceful pollution of our waterways and beaches,” said Hynes. “In 2008 I set up an Environmental Crimes Unit within the Rackets Division, to investigate and prosecute polluters and clean up our rivers and beaches. Thanks to the continued cooperation of the DEC and DEP on this and other cases, we have had great success.”

The defendants ignored orders to have their sewer lines repaired, Hynes said.

An investigation began with complaints from residents in 2009. The investigation revealed that, in spite of these notices, noxious odors, fecal matter and toilet paper from the movie theater’s septic system were present in the creek as recently as this year.

Craig Novoa; Knapp Street Bagels and its manager, Simon Shin; and Deauville Marina and its manager, David Matalon, all face charges related to dumping untreated human waste into Shell Bank Creek. Knapp Street Bagels, Shin, and TGI Friday’s and its landlord, Alex Spivak, are also charged with dumping untreated waste grease and oil into the creek.

Mark Ruffalo on Hydrofracking in New York

Act to stop gas drilling (hydrofracking) in New York until we are sure it can be done safely without threatening drinking water.

Take action now - Click here...

EPA Wants to Know Chemicals Used in Gas Drilling by Matthew Daly- The Associated Press

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Ron Bishop, lecturer in chemistry and biochemistry at SUNY Oneonta, gives an overview of natural gas extraction technology and explain how water contamination can occur during the gas drilling process.

The Environmental Protection Agency asked nine natural gas companies Thursday to voluntarily disclose the chemical components used in a drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing.

The agency said the information is important to its study of the controversial drilling practice, also known as "fracking." Crews inject vast quantities of water, sand and chemicals underground to force open channels in sand and rock formations so oil and natural gas will flow.

The EPA is studying whether the practice affects drinking water and the public health.

Drilling companies have largely sought to protect their chemical formulas, calling them proprietary. Environmentalists are concerned that the chemicals, some of them carcinogens, will taint underground water supplies.

The EPA is taking a new look at fracking as gas drillers swarm to the lucrative Marcellus Shale region in the northeastern United States and blast into other shale formations around the country.

Fracking is exempt from federal regulation. The process is touted as the key to unlocking huge reserves of clean-burning natural gas.

Supporters say the practice is safe, noting that it is done thousands of feet below ground, much deeper than most water sources. They also point out that authorities have yet to link fracking to contaminated drinking water.

The EPA said in March it will study potential human health and water quality threats from fracking.

"By sharing information about the chemicals and methods they are using, these companies will help us make a thorough and efficient review of hydraulic fracturing and determine the best path forward," said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. "Natural gas is an important part of our nation's energy future, and it's critical that the extraction of this valuable natural resource does not come at the expense of safe water and healthy communities."

Letters were sent to nine leading national and regional hydraulic fracturing service providers, including Halliburton, Schlumberger and Key Energy Services.

Chris Tucker, a spokesman for Energy In Depth, a Washington-based group that advocates for the energy industry, said the EPA study offers an important opportunity to demonstrate that fracturing technology is safe, efficient and well-regulated by the states.

"If EPA believes it needs specific information to ensure its study draws on the best science and data available, we're hopeful the agency can coordinate with our members to ensure it has everything it needs, and uses that information in an appropriate way," Tucker said.

The EPA requested the information within 30 days and asked the companies to respond within seven days whether they will provide all of the information. If not, EPA said it is prepared to use its legal authority to force the companies to provide the information.

In Pennsylvania, where the Marcellus Shale is being pursued in a modern-day gas rush, state legislators and environmental regulators are pushing for a law to require drilling companies to disclose what's used at the well sites.

"We have broad right to know about the use of chemicals and discharges of any sort into the environment," said John Hanger, Pennsylvania's environmental protection secretary.

Associated Press writer Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pa., contributed to this report.

New Hope for a Restored Jamaica Bay by Arielle Concilio - Queens Chronicle

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Threatened with a lawsuit from several environmental organizations, the city and state have agreed in principal to upgrade sewage treatment plants on Jamaica Bay in the hope of improving water quality.

Sprawling across southern Queens and Brooklyn is Jamaica Bay, a wildlife refuge smack in the middle of one of the world’s largest cities. With its breathtaking views of green marshland and glimmering water set against the backdrop of New York’s urban landscape, it is the seeming image of peaceful coexistence between man and nature.

But years of abuse from overdevelopment and neglect have left the bay’s days numbered. However, thanks to a new joint initiative from the city and state, prodded by a host of environmental organizations, Jamaica Bay may have another shot at survival.

“Jamaica Bay is an amazing resource for New Yorkers,” said Larry Levine, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group. “It’s a wildlife refuge near the subway. We need to start treating the bay in the way that it deserves.”

The bay, which is marked off by Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island, and connects with Lower New York Bay through Rockaway Inlet, is made up of 25,000 acres of marshland, coastal lagoons, islands and open waters. It is accessible by car and public transit, lies next to Kennedy International Airport, and is surrounded by urban residential, commercial and industrial development.

The bay is also home to 60 species of butterflies, 80 species of fish, and a number of amphibians, small mammals and reptiles including the endangered diamondback terrapins, which lay their eggs on the beach each spring, and peregrine falcons. In addition, the bay boasts horseshoe crabs that come to mate and dig nests on the shore, and more than 300 species of birds — about 20 percent of North America’s total bird species — that visit the area each year.

But unfortunately, those animals will fast disappear if the health of the bay continues to decline.

Since the beginning of the city’s history, the bay has been plagued by the ill effects of development. Among the projects that damaged its ecology was the construction in 1931 of historic Floyd Bennett Field, the city’s first municipal airport, which required 14 million cubic feet of fill. JFK Airport, mostly constructed in the 1940s, also destroyed 4,500 acres of wetlands as a result of dredging and filling that is believed to have disrupted the natural flow of sediment across the marshes. Industrial expansion and the contruction of the Pennsylvania and Fountain Avenue landfills in the l950s and 1960s by the city Sanitation Department saw the filling of another 12,000 acres of marshland. Today, only 800 acres of marshland remain.

But overdevelopment has not been the only cause of the disappearing marshlands. Erosion caused by sea level rise believed to be caused by global warming, and the dumping of contaminants including garbage from the Pennsylvania and Fountain Avenue landfills, also led to the shrinking of the salt marshes. In fact, the garbage that was dumped for over a century from those landfills eroded so much of the southernmost shoreline that it came to be called “Dead Horse Bay.”

According to the Jamaica Bay Task Force, a group of private citizens, scientists and federal, state, regional and local agency representatives who work together to understand and propose solutions to the issues surrounding the bay, “tremendous amounts of toxins have possibly run into the bay” as the shoreline has been eroded and the landfill has “become exposed” over the years. They are working to reverse that, and just this past spring the Brooklyn landfills were reforested with 35,000 trees that will be incorporated as parkland in several years.

But despite the progress, sewage remains the largest problem threatening the bay.

In the early 20th century, discharge pipes in Brooklyn and Queens created mass pollution that led to bans on swimming, and extinguished the bay as the thriving shell-fishing community it once was.

Today four of the city’s 14 sewage treatment plants discharge more than 45,000 pounds of nitrogen into the bay each day. Those discharges promote the growth of algae blooms which decrease the dissolved oxygen that marine life relies on. With greater levels of nitrogen, more and more portions of the bay become inhospitable to aquatic animals. In addition, the high nitrogen levels have also contributed to the rapid loss of the marshlands, which both provide a habitat for wildlife and act as a protective flood barrier to the communities that surround the bay.

According to a monthly journal published by the NRDC, the bay’s marshlands are disappearing at a rate of 33 acres per year and are expected to completely disappear within 15 years if action is not taken to control the nitrogen levels.

That is why the NRDC and three other environmental organizations — the American Littoral Society, the Jamaica Bay Eco Watchers and the NY/NJ Baykeeper — along with the city Department of Environmental Protection and the state Department of Environmental Conservation, came up with an agreement last February to help improve the health of the bay through upgrades to sewage treatment plants and investments in marsh restoration.

The agreement came about after the four environmental groups threatened the governments with a lawsuit last August that finally got the city and state to sit down and negotiate. Talks went on for a number of months before a final agreement was reached.

“We alleged there were violations” regarding the discharge of pollutants, said Levine, who has been negotiating the contract. “They may disagree, but there is no question that it is violating state standards.”

The agreement entails a 10-year plan that aims to improve water quality by devoting $100 million to upgrading the four sewage treatment plants, which are expected to cut nitrogen levels in half by the year 2020, along with improved water quality monitoring. Fifteen million dollars will also be spent on marsh restoration, which is expected to leverage an additional $30 million in federal funds from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has begun the rehabilitation project.

According to Don Riepe, founder of the northeast chapter of the American Littoral Society, a coastal conservation group that promotes the study and preservation of marine life and habitat, work on the bay’s Elders Point West Island, south of the Brooklyn-Queens border, has already begun, and next summer, the engineers will start working on Yellow Bar Hassock Island, which will see 50 acres of marsh restored.

To restore the marshland, the Army Corps of Engineers is using muck dredged up to deepen the channels, or clean fill taken from New York City waters, to enlarge the bay’s islands for maritime development, instead of building docks and warehouses. The dredged material will become 35 new acres of marsh by the end of the year. The project is expected to be completed by 2014 with the restoration of 42 million cubic yards of material from various channels.

But despite those advancements, as of now, the plan is still largely an agreement in principle. In fact, the NRDC, along with the other groups involved, has been working with the city for over six years to get the plan approved, and still it remains to be finalized.

According to DEP spokeswoman Mercedes Padilla, the contract could be signed “in the very near future,” however, a definitive date was not given. “We are finishing some details,” Padilla said.

A spokeswoman for the DEC also confirmed that “we are in the process of putting some last minute finalizations together,” but, “we don’t have an estimated date.”

Dan Mundy, president of Jamaica Bay Eco Watchers and founder of the Jamaica Bay Task Force, is “concerned” about the delay. “We are still waiting on the city and state and still pressuring them,” Levine said. “We had anticipated completion much sooner. ... We’ve done our part and have been letting them know we’re frustrated with the length of time it’s taken them.”

State Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach), whose father, the late Congressman Joseph P. Addabbo, helped form a special task force of government officials, community leaders and environmental experts to address the bay’s environment, said that “implementation takes a long time.”

However, Addabbo added that, “if we don’t pay attention now, we will have problems that can’t be reversed. The DEP and DEC serve as watchdogs ... We need to keep up on these issues, and encourage agencies to continue examining them.”

And though officials only came to the table after being threatened with a lawsuit, Debbie Mans, executive director of the NY/NJ Baykeeper group, confirmed that the city is “now talking about the restoration in very positive ways,” explaining, “They didn’t talk about it in a way that they were being forced, which I thought was interesting. They said, ‘No this is a good thing.’ They are taking real ownership of it, including the millions of dollars they’re putting in it.”

Though the contract has yet to be signed, the city has agreed to abide by its deadlines on testing equipment used for lowering nitrogen levels and performing more water monitoring than had previously been done.

But while everyone agrees that the plan is a good one, past efforts to restore the bay have seen little success. The DEP’s Watershed Protection Plan, signed by Mayor Mike Bloomberg back in 2005, had similar goals to help improve the water quality of the bay.

Under the legislation, the agency was required to create a plan to restore and maintain the water quality of the bay by assessing threats to its ecology and overseeing protection efforts. The DEP was also mandated to create an advisory committee to provide advice to the commissioner regarding the final watershed plan.

However, Brad Sewell, an attorney for NDRC who has been working on the Watershed Protection Plan with the DEP for several years, said the plan was never finalized.
“It hasn’t been ongoing,” he said, adding in regard to its status, “I just have no idea.”

Riepe agreed: “It was a good plan to look at all the areas of the bay to capture runoff. But I haven’t heard much since.”

Although the environmental organizations are supposed to receive annual reports with updates on the water quality, they said they only received one incomplete report back in October of 2008. Although the next one is due in the fall, Sewell said, “we have no idea what we’re going to get,” because there was “never really a quantitative plan.”

Sewell said he believes part of the problem is that “the DEP didn’t want to do it. They didn’t want to be tied to doing certain things. They never really set out any quantitative methods to assess water quality.”

According to Sewell, the Watershed Protection Plan “talks about the nitrogen oxide problem and says it intends to fix it, but didn’t provide a specific solution.”

The new agreement in principle, however, calls for a specific solution with the plant upgrades and the marsh restorations.

“We will remain optimistic and move forward with the upgrades. Jamaica Bay suffers from being downstream in the country’s largest city, and suffered historically from lack of political attention,” he added.

“We are very pleased with it,” Levine said of the pending contract.

Mans agreed: “I feel good about what we accomplished. It’s going to take several years to lower the nitrogen, but we weren’t looking to punish the city.”

And while working on restoration efforts with the city have often been frustrating, Sewell was also quick to note that there has been a “sincere effort by the DEP and DEC to implement a solution.”

“If the plan is finalized, it will be a significant victory for the bay,” he said.

Advocates hope the past will not serve as an indicator of the future and the new agreement will be finalized, so the bay’s image as a unique gem where man and nature coexist will no longer be a mere mirage.

NYC DEP Begins Dredging at Hendrix Creek in Jamaica Bay...

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Completed Wetland Restoration Improves Water Quality of Jamaica Bay Tributary

Environmental Protection Commissioner Cas Holloway today announced the start of dredging at Hendrix Creek, a 7,000-foot tributary at the northern boundary of Jamaica Bay. The $13.1 million project will remove accumulated combined sewer overflow (CSO) sediment from the upper portion of the creek to reduce odors in the surrounding community. In addition to the dredging work, DEP recently completed a $1.3 million wetland restoration project, adding 30,000 salt marsh plantings and 23,000 square feet of coastal grassland and shrubland to improve the overall water quality and ecology of the creek and Jamaica Bay.

"The dredging and wetland restoration of Hendrix Creek are two more steps forward in our comprehensive plan to improve one of New York City's greatest natural resources, Jamaica Bay," said Commissioner Holloway. "Back in February, Mayor Bloomberg announced $115 million of investments to further reduce nitrogen levels and restore marsh islands in the bay. And in June, we expanded the number of water quality testing sites in the bay by 50%. Now, we are restoring the natural habitat in one of the bay's largest tributaries and dredging it to reduce odors in the community. Step by step, we are making the bay cleaner and healthier so that New Yorkers will be able to enjoy this ecological marvel for generations to come."
Dredging will remove 20,000 cubic yards of accumulated sediment at the uppermost 1,400 feet of the creek to eliminate a potential source of odors. The 
sediment is composed of material from combined sewer overflows which occur when stormwater and wastewater is discharged into surrounding waterways during heavy storms to prevent local wastewater treatment plants from being overwhelmed by increased stormwater flows. The hydraulic dredging method uses a cutter head which loosens the below-water sediment, and pumps, which vacuum the sediment through a flexible pipe onto barges. The pumped material is then dewatered by equipment on barges at the 26th Ward Wastewater Treatment Plant pier. Once dewatered, the material is then transported by barge for off-site processing and disposal. Hydraulic dredging reduces the overall project duration, results in less turbidity within the creek, and has less impact on the local habitat. The creek bottom will then be restored by placing an 18-inch layer of clean sand atop the dredged surface to cap the remaining sediment within the dredged area of the creek. It is anticipated that the project will be completed in late summer 2011.

The Hendrix Creek Wetland Restoration Project restored 30,000 square feet of salt marsh habitat and 23,000 square feet of a coastal grassland and shrubland habitat. The restoration removed highly invasive plants, including phragmites, Japanese knotweed and mugwort and debris from the shoreline. The improved habitat allows for greater plant diversity and the return of native plants that had been previously displaced by the invasive ones. Restoring additional tidal salt marsh and adjacent plant communities in a tributary of Jamaica Bay helps provide key ecological functions, including: additional nursery, forage and refuge habitat for the 91 species of fish in the bay; use by migratory and resident birds; and water filtering.

Jamaica Bay is a 39-square-mile water body with a broader watershed of approximately 142 square miles that includes portions of Brooklyn, Queens and Nassau County. The bay is a diverse ecological resource that supports multiple habitats, including open water, salt marshes, grasslands, coastal woodlands, maritime shrublands and brackish and freshwater wetlands. These habitats support fish, birds and many reptile, amphibian and small mammal species. The bay is a critical stop for birds along the Eastern Flyway migration route and has become an internationally renowned birding destination. Portions of the bay, most notably the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, have been designated as Significant Coastal Fish and Wildlife Habitats by the federal and state governments.

The City announced in February that it would make $115 million in new investments to improve the overall water quality and mitigate marshland loss in Jamaica Bay. The investments include $100 million to install new nitrogen control technologies at wastewater treatment plants located on Jamaica Bay. The investments, made in concert with $95 million the City already has committed for nitrogen control upgrades, will reduce the nitrogen loads discharged into Jamaica Bay by nearly 50 percent over the next ten years. The City also will invest $15 million for marshland restoration projects around the bay beyond the investments made in these Hendrix Creek projects.

Since 2002, the City has invested $37.4 million to reclaim more than 440 acres of environmentally sensitive land adjoining Jamaica Bay and plans to remediate nearly 100 additional acres. The City will leverage its new $15 million investment in the bay's marshlands by applying for Federal matching funds, which could net an additional $30 million in funding for Jamaica Bay marshland preservation projects.

DEP manages the City's water supply, providing more than 1 billion gallons of water each day to more than 9 million residents, including 8 million in New York City, and residents of Ulster, Orange, Putnam and Westchester counties. New York City's water is delivered from a watershed that extends more than 125 miles from the city, and comprises 19 reservoirs, and three controlled lakes. Approximately 7,000 miles of water mains, tunnels and aqueducts bring water to homes and businesses throughout the five boroughs, and waste7,400 miles of sewer lines take wastewater to 14 in-city treatment plants.

Senator Addabbo: Statement on Bill Being Passed To Halt Drilling In Upstate Watershed

NYS Senator Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr., a co-sponsor of the Senate bill (S8129B) calling for a moratorium on hydrofracking, or drilling for natural gas reserves in the upstate watershed, today issued the following statement on the bill’s passage after being brought to the floor for a vote last night:

"I believe this bill, which provides for a nine-month moratorium, provides a rational, prudent approach to the practice of hydrofracking. This drilling process has possible short- and long-term health and safety implications and is the subject of a pending DEC report, which needs to be reviewed and evaluated. I look forward to working with the DEC on this issue as we seek to avoid any risks to our environment and personal safety. I thank my constituents for bringing this issue to my attention last year. I also want to thank the hundreds of residents across New York who signed petitions, wrote letters and attended rallies to show Albany that we needed hydrofracking legislation. Your voices were heard and together, we have taken the first step toward protecting our drinking water.

Protecting New York's Water And Holding Gas Corporations Accountable: Senate Bill Mandates Moratorium To Allow For Comprehensive Study Of Drilling In Marcellus Shale | New York State Senate

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Continuing to put public safety over special interests, the Senate Democratic Majority passed a moratorium on gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale to prevent the potentially hazardous contamination of the state’s water supply. Through the moratorium, gas and oil companies would be restricted from hastily endangering the health and economic well-being of more than 12 million local residents who draw their water from the affected area by engaging a process known as hydraulic fracturing or hydro-fracking.

This moratorium (S8129B/Thompson) is effective through May 15, 2011, providing the state much-needed opportunity to fully review the potential side effects of this kind of drilling. Hydro-fracking is the process of breaking apart the rock under the earth, in which some natural resources are trapped, by forcing millions of gallons of waters mixed with chemicals into the ground. These chemicals then work their way into the regular water supply.

The side effects of this process are extraordinarily costly and personally devastating, as families across Pennsylvania and other states have learned after rushing into drilling. On top of the economic and health concerns, there are considerable safety hazards within the untested drilling process; earlier this month a well in Pennsylvania exploded taking two lives. In May, an explosion at another well took another life.

Senator Antoine Thompson (D-parts of Erie and Niagara Counties), chair of the Senate’s Environmental Conservation Committee said, “In a recent round of hearings, the DEC received more than 14,000 comments on this issue. More time is needed to digest those comments and make an informed judgment if adequate safeguards can be put in place to allow hydro-fracking while still protecting our valuable and irreplaceable fresh water. The decisions we make on this issue will determine the economic and environmental vitality of communities across the state for decades to come. In light of the Gulf of Mexico drilling disaster, my colleagues and I believe that a 10 month delay to get it right is prudent and necessary.”

Senate Majority Conference Leader John L. Sampson said, “Keeping New Yorkers safe means preserving the sanctity of their access to clean, drinkable water. We do not need to look any further than the devastation in the Gulf of Mexico to realize that there is no financial benefit worth risking the safety of New York’s water supply. Much of the Southern Tier, Central New York, the Hudson Valley, and New York City all draw their water from the area proposed to be explored from the Marcellus Shale. That is why we must fully understand the impact of drilling, and potential consequences, before breaking ground. I applaud Senator Thompson and the many advocates and residents who fought tirelessly for this legislation.”

Mark Ruffalo, a Hudson Valley homeowner, actor and advocate on this issue said, “As a resident of Sullivan county I am relieved the state senate stepped up to the plate to institute sound, common sense policy on the issue of hydro-fracking. Protecting my family and neighbors and friends is why I have dedicated my time to raising awareness on this issue of critical importance."

Susan Zimet, Co-Director Frack Action and Ulster County Legislator said, "Albany has proven that when the will is there to do the right thing, they can come through with flying colors. Thank you Senator Sampson and the Democratic majority for bringing this critical legislation to the floor for a vote. And a special thank you to those Republican Senators whose vote put this over the top."

Julia Walsh, Co-Director Frack Action said, "I look forward to a swift passage of this bill through the Assembly and the Governor’s signature. By enacting this moratorium New York State once again proves to be a leader on issues affecting the public’s health, welfare and environment"

For more information visit http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/S8129B.

Marcellus Shale is a black, low density, organic rich shale that was formed by the sedimentation of marine, mud and clay deposits from ancient river deltas across the Appalachian Basin approximately 350 to 415 million years ago. It exists up to 9,000 feet below ground mainly beneath New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.

In order to allow the gas to escape through the pore space, drillers create artificial fractures in the shale, predominately using a method called hydro fracturing by injecting a mixture of water, sand and gel at extremely high pressure to crack and prop open the shale.

Stand Up New York and Speak Out at CleanWaterNotDirtyDrilling.org..!

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Stand Up and Speak Out!



Tell the New York legislature we need a drilling "time out" to protect NY water, and our public health from dirty drilling.

Stand up and speak out at CleanWaterNotDirtyDrilling.org!

Don't let dirty drilling frack up New York's clean water.

Drilling shouldn't occur unless and until we know it can be done safely, and we have rules and enforcement to require it.

Click here for more info: cleanwaternodirtydrilling.org



Thanks to the folks at Agit-Pop.com who made the vid, and the makers of SplitEstate.com and GASLANDthemovie.com, without whose footage it couldn't have been made.

to give them a piece of your mind.

Urban Forager:Cute Little Blob, but Watch for the Sting - by Ave Chin - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com

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Photographs by Ava Chin for The New York Times Jelly in a jar.

One recent afternoon, I stood on a dock leaning out into the Gowanus Canal with three locals armed with long sticks and plastic bags, hoping to catch a jellyfish in the high tide.

I first became intrigued by the notion of a Gowanus jelly when someone forwarded me a picture that a local resident and environmental planner, Eymund Diegel, had taken of a catch that he and his daughter Amara Diegel, 8, had made a few weeks before.

It was a lion’s mane jelly – the same species that terrorized a New Hampshire beach this week, only smaller, about the size of Mr. Diegel’s hand, in a glass vase surrounded by a pair of wide-eyed local kids.

When I contacted Mr. Diegel about taking me along with him, he sent the following hypothetical instructions:

1. Get long rusty pole out of Gowanus Dumpster.
2. Unhook plastic shopping bag snagged on barbed wire fence and tie to pole.
3. Hold daughter (to avoid falling in sludge) and scoop up passing jelly fish with urban forager hunting device.
4. Put in jar, and stare at pulsating movement. Show to playmates for “cool” factor.
5. Release.

Originally a tidal pool with water originating from the mouth of the Gowanus Bay, the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn had long been fetid from more than a century of toxic dumping and sewage from a variety of industrial operations along its banks.

But the modern emergence of a cleaner East River combined with the reactivation of the “flushing tunnel” —built in 1911 to flush water from the Buttermilk Channel through the canal, and down towards the Bay — meant not just a less smelly Gowanus in recent years, but also the growing presence of marine life, including killifish, microplankton and jellies. Folks were so enthusiastic about the improvements, some even went fishing in it.

Urban fisher-girls await their quarry.

The afternoon that we met up for our jelly expedition, Eymund Diegel arrived with Amara, 8, and her friend Alita Gaulot, 7, plus two long sticks from his backyard, and a giant glass jar. Though it was more than 90 degrees, the canal was surprisingly odor-free.

At the Second Street boat dock, four teenagers left when they saw us approaching. The high tide was still pushing the water north, but soon it would reverse and be the optimal time to catch jellies. The water was surprisingly clear close to the banks, and I spotted a few crab bodies (deceased) and some floating plankton. Mr. Diegel spied a rat running under the eroded cement bulkhead, hollowed out by the tide.

The dock, with a railing and ladder descending into the canal, making it resemble the end of a swimming pool, was submerged in about 4 inches of cleanish-looking water. The girls were allowed to put their feet in, but their entreaties to go swimming were denied.

“The top layer is fine—it’s East River water—but I don’t trust what’s six feet below,” said Mr. Diegel. He turned to the girls, who were already standing ankle-deep in the water getting their plastic bags ready. “And when we get home, we’re hosing your feet off.”

Mr. Diegel had previously collected Gowanus water samples for a P.S. 29 science fair where a group of students were eager to study it under microscopes. Mr. Diegel said, “The kids were disappointed there wasn’t anything really bad in there.”

Growing up in Queens, where we often drove across a particularly polluted part of Flushing Bay on the Van Wyck Expressway, prompting furious manual hand-crankings of the car windows shut, the first time I smelled the Gowanus, I was immediately brought back to my childhood borough. So here I was, some years later, standing in the tidal waters of the Gowanus Canal, surprised that my own desire to see a creature I’m normally leery of encountering in the ocean outweighed the reputed yuck-factor of the surroundings.

Suddenly, Amara started shouting “Look! Look!” and then both girls were pointing and yelling, and Mr. Diegel began stirring the water with a long stick.

Several feet out into the Gowanus was a tiny shimmery blob, about the size of a nickel, moving in the water like an infant’s heartbeat, pushed along by the tide.
Mr. Diegel’s method of methodical, counter-clock-wise stirring soon brought the tiny jelly within arms’ reach.

“I got it!” Alita called out, before reaching in with a grocery bag.

Back on land, where an elderly gentleman had quietly set up a net and a cooler (“Killifish,” he explained), we distributed the baby jelly into the glass jar with plenty of Gowanus water and a piece of kelp Mr. Diegel had fished out of the canal.

Jellyfish are edible, and served cold in Chinese restaurants. They are not my favorite food, with a texture and flavor rather like that of rubber bands, but even if I enjoyed them, I was not going to eat anything from the Gowanus. As we stirred the water—jellies need perpetual motion—the creature we named “Baby Jello” alternated between gliding flat in the current like a fried egg and bunching up like a French cruller.

Like the jelly Mr. Diegel and his partners discovered before, Baby Jello is a lion’s mane jellyfish that can grow to a giant (the bell can range from 19 inches to nearly 8 feet in diameter), with tentacles that resemble long masses of wig-like hair (sometimes over 100 feet). Its sting can be fatal, which inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write the Sherlock Holmes story “The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane.” But as we stared at the jelly pulsating in the jar, it was hard to imagine that such a tiny translucent creature, with its wee orangy-red-center that upside-down rather resembled the shredded topping on Chinese shumai, could grow up to be a killer.

Despite being seasoned Gowanus jelly catchers (this was Amara’s third and Alita’s second jelly), both girls were excited about their catch.

“This was the best because it’s rare to find a baby,” said Alita. Amara agreed.
 Jellies like this may become rarer for the next few years with last week’s closing of the flushing tunnel for repairs, but we weren’t thinking about this as we carried the tiny creature to the Proteus Gowanus artspace near the Union Street bridge. That evening, Baby Jello became the temporary mascot of their show “Transport,” before later being released back to its watery home, where I imagined it would make its way down to the Gowanus Bay, and eventually, I hoped, out to the Atlantic Ocean.

Help the Working Family Party Stop Hydro-fracking in NYS Now..!

To stop risky natural gas drilling in New York, we have to get our State Senators back to Albany now.

At the moment, they're on recess for the indefinite future -- but if they don't return and pass a moratorium on hydrofracking ASAP, the first gas drilling permits could be issued this August, and it could be too late to save New York City's drinking water from pollution.

The Working Family Party (WFP) is about to send a letter to every single Senate office around the state, insisting that they return and pass a drilling moratorium right away.

Will you please sign the letter before they send it?

Sign the letter by clicking here...

In June, WFP delivered a 12,000-person petition to Senate Majority Leader John Sampson urging him to bring a moratorium bill to the floor. But Albany was in the middle of intense budget negotiations, and the Senate never got to voting on the bill before they adjourned.

They can still come back and pass a moratorium, but we have to put pressure on EVERY member of the State Senate to make it happen.

Some Senators are worried that if they do the right thing and vote for a ban, the drilling industry will come after them in the fall elections, spending hundreds of thousands to smear their reputations and try to defeat them at the polls.

We need to show these Senators that New Yorkers' grassroots support for a drilling moratorium overwhelms any threats from the drilling industry. The more signers we have on the WFP letter, the clearer that message becomes -- and then they'll make sure every single member of the State Senate gets it.

It really is now or never. I hope you'll sign the WFP  letter today, and ask all of your friends to sign it, too.

Plan Starts Up For Jamaica Bay Clean Up by Elise Finch - wcbs-tv

Jamaica Bay is a popular boating and fishing area, but it's been plagued by pollution in recent years...Take a tour of Jamaica Bay with NYC Department of Environmental Protection and CBS2's Elise Finch...

Senator Joe Addabbo Calls for a Moratorium on Hydrofracking in Upstate Watershed...

Wants Halt to Drilling that Affects NYC Drinking Water until EPA Impact Study Is Completed

To protect the drinking water for almost nine million New Yorkers, NYS Senator Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr., is sponsoring a bill that calls for a moratorium on drilling for natural gas or “hydrofracking” in the upstate watershed. Currently, the bill sits in the Environmental Conservation committees in both the Senate and the Assembly. It may come up for a vote in the Senate before the end of the current legislative session, scheduled to resume the week of July 12.

What is hydrofracking and how could it affect our drinking water even though it takes place over 100 miles away? Earlier this year, Brian Dooley, President of the Glendale Property Owners Association and Addabbo’s constituent, educated the Senator about the process. Dooley explained that while New York City has some of the cleanest, safest and most reliable drinking water in the country, the safety of the city’s drinking water is in danger, put in jeopardy by big business oil companies who want to drill for natural gas dangerously close to New York City’s upstate watershed using a process known as hydraulic fracturing, also called hydrofracking.

This drilling process uses toxic chemicals under high pressure in water to break up rock formations deep underground releasing the natural gas. The targeted material for this natural gas drilling runs through approximately eight states including Pennsylvania and upstate New York and is known as the Marcellus Shale. The hydrofracking drilling method requires millions of gallons of water that the United States Department of Energy considers one of the most toxic industrial byproducts produced by gas and oil drilling.

“Let me be clear, I am not against drilling, but I am totally against a process that certainly has questionable ingredients that should not be in our water. Recently, I met with Josh Fox, writer and director of the movie Gasland, to discuss this issue and my education and concerns about hydrofracking grew,” explains Addabbo.

The Senator warns: “Imagine not being able to use your water for fear of drinking carcinogens, plastics and toxins. The danger of hydraulic fracturing so close to the New York City watershed is easy to imagine. Toxic byproduct can seep into our drinking water and turn our once pristine water into a severe health risk. According to a report prepared by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, entitled Uncalculated Risk, seven states across the country have experienced serious incidents of water contamination and explosions near hydraulic fracturing mines.”

“To protect our drinking water, I have introduced and sponsored legislation to place a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in New York State and would keep the state Department of Environmental Conservation from issuing drilling permits, until 120 days after an impact study is completed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. [The study began in March and a completion date has not been set, but is expected to take up to two years.] We need to slow down and take time to fully understand a report currently being prepared by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation regarding the potential dangers of hydraulic fracturing and its possible effects on the New York City watershed. The unknown, long-term effects of the components of hydrofracking could be dangerous, if not fatal. Why take a chance with our precious drinking water? We should be certain that New York City’s water supply will not be damaged,” adds Addabbo.

Concludes the Senator: “The risks are simply too high to just recklessly move forward with hydraulic fracturing. Almost nine million people in New York City rely on clean, safe, unfiltered surface water collected in the watershed. We cannot put the health of New York City residents at risk. The harm to our city’s and state’s infrastructure, economy, and most importantly, public trust -- far outweigh any benefits of moving forward immediately with hydrofracking.”

“In the wake of the BP oil spill in the Gulf, we have seen first-hand the effects of ignoring common-sense safety measures. While I know that upstate landowners stand to make huge amounts of money from the gas companies as they lease their land to allow the drilling and that the process creates jobs, I believe it is irresponsible and dangerous to permit drilling so near our water supply without taking the time to fully understand its ramifications.”

Senator Addabbo urges New Yorkers to work together to protect our precious drinking water. Concerned New Yorkers are invited to go to the Senator’s Web site at http://www.nysenate.gov/senator/joseph-p-addabbo-jr to sign his petition in support of his legislation calling for a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing. For additional ways to protect our city’s drinking water, please call the Senator’s district offices at 718-738-1111 or 718-497-1630, or email him at addabbo@senate.state.ny.us.