Gas Drilling Awareness for Cortland County to Host Open House

GDACC will host an Open House on Earth Day, Friday, April 22, 4:30-7 PM, at the Beard Building, 9 Main Street, Cortland.  The event is part of SUNY Cortland’s Sustainability Week, a week long series of events on a wide range of environmental topics.  The Open House is cosponsored by two SUNY organizations, the Environmental Justice Committee of the Center for Gender and Intellectual Studies and NYPIRG.

A featured event at the Open House will be a showing of the film “My Name is Allegany”, which documents the citizens’ resistance to New York State’s siting of a radioactive waste dump.  Cortland County was also targeted.  Two Cortland County residents, Jim Weiss and Paul Yaman, who were active in the local fight against the nuclear dump, will introduce the film and compare the resistance movements in the two counties.

“This film offers a unique view into powerful citizen activism and the resistance movement that ultimately defeated an environmental injustice against great odds,” said Sheila Cohen, SUNY Professor Emerita and an organizer of the GDACC Open House.  “It raises important issues for a new environmental threat facing Cortland County, hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), used to extract natural gas from deep shale formations.  Citizen movements opposing fracking have risen up in New York and numerous other states, as well as many countries across the globe,” Cohen added.

In addition to the film showing, literature about a variety of gas drilling issues, including economic impacts, leasing, health effects, and environmental consequences will be on hand.  GDACC members will be present to discuss and answer questions about gas drilling.  Newly printed GDACC T-shirts and sweatshirts will be available for purchase; however the many excellent refreshments and snacks will be provided free of charge.

Other displays will highlight initiatives to promote the use of clean, safe, alternative energy including a demonstration from Sustainable Tompkins on the “Finger Lakes Energy Challenge.”

“The gas industry claims that natural gas is a clean fuel.  But when the complete extraction process is factored in, gas contributes as much as coal to global warming,* said Jim Weiss, another GDACC member.

“This Open House will be a fun and informative way for people to learn about the most serious environmental threat facing New York in decades, reflect on their own energy choices, and celebrate Earth Day.”

GDACC ( http://gdacc.wordpress.com ) is a group of residents who are concerned about gas drilling and its potential impacts on our community, health and environment.Our goal