The People's Action Against Fracking

Anti-Frack Action Camp
October 13-15th, 2012
Finger Lakes National Forest

Finger Lakes Earth First! is hosting a weekend camp out against fracking to build regional capacity for Direct Action* while celebrating our connection with this land and the beautiful Fall season. There will be delicious food and fire circles, tree-climbing and workshops, sleeping under stars and in tents, skill shares & trainings (bring a workshop or discussion topic), and swimming for the daring!

Everybody is welcome! RSVP for site directions and schedule:   FingerlakesEF@riseup.net

This is a family friendly event – Our camp has nearby parking and a reasonably accessible trail. Please do not hesitate to contact us with questions or requests.

*We believe we have a responsibility and the ability to take Direct Action to against fracking without relying exclusively on “representatives” be it politicians, activist leaders, or big time environmentalist organizations. Direct Action is really just that–direct action. Check out the camp to get involved and learn more.

Right now three activists are chained to the fence outside the Inergy facility near Watkins Glen. Many others are also participating in the blockade and headed to the site to blockade the entrance.  Police have given protesters 15 minutes to leave before they will be risking arrest.  Jeremy Alderson, one of the blockaders chained to the fence, is the founder of the No Frack Almanac and is a member of Gas Free Seneca. Below is a statement he released:

If you are reading this, I am chained to a fence outside an Inergy facility near Watkins Glen, and I am not alone.

We are protesting the gasification of New York.  We don’t want fracking in this state (or any state), and we don’t like Inergy’s plans to build a gas storage hub in Seneca Lake salt caverns.  We believe that:

1 – Inergy’s plans are reckless and dangerous.  Salt Cavern storage facilities are more accident prone than any other type of gas storage facility.

2 – Even if nothing goes wrong, there will be plenty wrong.  The Inergy project will change the character of our rural area by increasing the levels of traffic, noise, and pollution.  Just the pollution alone will kill people, and gas development will surely harm our existing winery, agricultural and tourism industries.

3 – Inergy can’t be trusted.  Inergy has been caught in so many lies and is keeping so many secrets that it has no credibility whatsoever.  It cannot be relied on as a guardian of public safety.

4 – The Inergy project is clearly meant to facilitate the fracking of New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.  We adamantly oppose fracking and consider it catastrophic folly.  We want the Inergy project stopped because of its own lack of merit, and also as part of the larger effort to stop fracking.

5 – We resent the fact that, even though we live here, we have been given no say in what happens to our area.  We know, for example, that the DEC is keeping secrets for Inergy.  And we know that the DEC sent proposed fracking regulations to the gas companies for review, before finalizing them and releasing them for public comment.  No such opportunity was afforded to the industry’s opponents.  We cannot remain silent while a demonstrably biased agency makes decisions behind closed doors that could forever change our way of life.

Media Contact: Maura Stephens 607-351-3766

What: Call to Actions
When: Tuesday September 4th 2012
Where: Everywhere, wherever you are
How: Anyway you know/can
Contact: nofrackingactionmedia@gmail.com

WE KNOW THIS IS SHORT NOTICE!

WE ALSO KNOW THAT WE NEED TO BE READY FOR QUICK ACTION TO PROTECT OUR LIVES AND HOMES!

It was recently reported that Governor Cuomo would announce the opening of NY state to active drilling “soon”, despite the insistence of residents that we do not want the gas industry fracturing our communities!

On September 4th, 2012 we challenge you to create the most creative direct action response you can with the people you have and supplies you can rustle up. Tell the gas industry and elected officials like Governor Cuomo, “WE ARE NOT GOING TO LET YOU DO THIS! We will meet you in your office with banners and signs, we will meet you on the streets chanting, we will meet you in front of the companies’ headquarters, we will hang banners from your street poles, we will sit down in the roads and bar industry vehicles from entering their compounds, we will stop the drill rigs from drilling when they come!”

You don’t have to wait to organize a rally or an office demonstration. Successful actions always start with a committed team. Collaborate with your group on a smart strategy, effective tactics, and powerful messaging. No matter how small your action is, it will become one of the many grassroots voices against fracking that make this movement strong. You are powerful and creative; you can do it, whatever that may be!

Lies and money have worked in the past; they don’t anymore. There have been too many broken promises, broken treaties, broken dreams. The fracking industry will not win us over no matter how hard it tries. We will fight like the lives of our children depend on it, because they do.

Check out this powerful video from last saturday’s action! We shut them down and there is more coming!

For over a year now, local residents, business owners, and tourists have worked to express their opposition to the proposed gas storage and transport facility being developed on the western shore of Seneca Lake. It stands to be the largest gas storage and transport facility in the North Eastern United States. Despite their efforts, the industrialization of the region by Kansas-city based Inergy moves boldly forward . The DEC’s acceptance of the Environmental Impact Statement as final is imminent.

People within the region are growing increasingly frustrated after attending decision-making meetings, meeting with representatives, writing letters, holding forums, attending hearings, and making phone calls in an effort to stop this project- seemingly to no avail. The community is standing together on August 17th to make their voices heard, and their opposition to this facility known- this time, in a different way. This will be a family friendly peaceful march through Watkins Glen.

STARTING POINT: At 4:00, meet at Seneca Marine Park parking lot near the “Village Marina Bar and Grill” off North Decatur Street; (Address: 2 Seneca Harbor Watkins Glen, NY 14891)

Join the facebook event and invite your friends: http://www.facebook.com/events/419609251408448/

by Shannon Ayala

Activists gathered yesterday at a sanitation pier near the West Side Highway in Lower Manhattan where Spectra Energy has begun construction on a natural gaspipeline (which partially picks up gas in the Marcellus Shale area where hydrofracking currently takes place in Pennsylvania). Some of the participants had been there since four a.m. awaiting a potential shipment of materials for construction at the driveway of the pier. Dozens, possibly over a hundred more activists came by the day’s end and waited until after dark, planning to return at daybreak.

“As I understand it, the group is going to try to stop a shipment of materials used to build the pipeline,” said a man who streams events at StopMotionSolo.tv. Soon after speeches were made, police gathered at the site and a large meeting formed while others leafletted on the greenway.

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