We had hoped that the Town Board would acknowledge the large number of signatures calling for a ban. After all, how often does a small Town Board receive so many verified petition signatures on an issue that has filled the meetings for month after month?

But their reaction was different, as Town Supervisor Ben Dickens dismissed the signatures as insignificant. Attendees pressed the Board to answer how the voices of so many Hector residents could be ignored, and who is it that the Town Board is representing with so many vocally opposed to fracking?

Click here to view a photo essay of events that evening.

The story was covered by the Ithaca Journal, and WAMC radio, the large public radio station in the Capitol region and Hudson Valley.

Ithaca Journal article

WAMC radio story (listen to the audio for full version):

Official election results for Schuyler County here (scroll down for Hector):
http://www.schuylercounty.us/2011GeneralResults.html

Check out the final ad I’m running in the local newspapers here.

Here’s some arguments in support of fracking that came up in a debate I took part in last night, and how I responded (response time was limited to 2 minutes). Hopefully you can use them yourself and create your own using these as models. I’ll publish more of these concise rebuttals in future posts. If you email me here with your own ideas, I’ll post those as well.

Our community has been divided by people opposed to fracking.

Response – It’s not citizens telling our elected representatives about our deep concerns for our businesses, homes and families that divide our communities, it’s the gas companies who want to radically alter our quality of life. Fracking will fundamentally change the nature of our community and have huge impacts on our health and well being – it must be talked about now, because fracking is about to start here. Time is of the essence.

We are citizens exercising the free speech rights guaranteed us by the US Constitution at a critical moment in our Town’s history. If that isn’t a time when our elected officials must hear from us, when is? In New York State, we are calling on our local governments to exercise the Home Rule rights guaranteed us by the New York State Constitution.

We can’t violate a person’s right to make money from extracting minerals from their land.

Response – While it’s true that landowners do have a right to make a profit from their land, they do not have a right to harm a neighbor’s property, health, or life in the course of doing so.

For example, Let’s say I’ve found a way to make a lot of money by dumping cyanide into a stream that runs through my property. This stream also runs from my land through your land, and your cows drink from it. Since drinking from a poisoned stream will cause your cows to die, I don’t have the right to make a profit in that particular way – I can’t poison a water source that we both share. So one neighbor’s right to use their land as they see fit supersedes another’s right to make a profit by poisoning a common stream they share.

The Town cannot afford to be sued by the gas companies.

Response – First of all, it’ s unlikely that the gas companies will sue every single one of the many local governments passing ordinances concerning fracking. The more likely legal approach is the one they have now taken – target a few selected communities like Dryden NY, and wait to see how the Courts rule. With more than 20 Cities, Towns and Villages acting and that number growing, any individual Town’s chance of being sued is reduced because they won’t sue them all. This also means that every additional Town that acts reduces the likelihood of any single town being sued.

Second, there are going to be huge costs to the Town if fracking proceeds, so one way or another there are going to be costs to the Town. If we don’t act to protect our Town now, just the costs of repairing damaged infrastructure alone will exceed any legal costs incurred to prevent such damage before it happens, not to mention the unbearable financial and human costs of a large industrial accident.

We should wait and see what happens in the Dryden lawsuit before taking action.

Response – There is no time to wait! Once the gas companies start putting shovels into the ground, they begin acquiring legal rights that make it much harder for the Town to exercise our own Home Rule rights. The Dryden case could take several years to work its way through the Courts, so delaying now and letting drilling begin is simply not an option.

First of all, ask yourself this question – if this is the same kind of gas drilling that already exists here, why haven’t the gas companies started fracking already? If it’s the same technology as before, why are we even going through the process of defining new permitting, regulations, and Environmental Impact Statements? The answer of course, is that fracking is a new and different drilling technique. If it wasn’t a new kind of drilling, we’d be doing it already.

Let’s look at how the two types of gas drilling are different. It’s helpful to think of it in terms of a more familiar type of well for rural residents – a water well. Basically, a rural water well is a hole drilled straight down into a body of water – the aquifer. You put a pipe down far down enough to reach the groundwater, and pump water from it. Similarly, the gas wells you currently see in New York State basically use this simple process – drill down into a pocket of gas, pump it out. Like a water well, it’s pretty straightforward technology.

Fracking is something entirely different (see an excellent graphic overview here). Compared to conventional gas well drilling, only the first step is similar – you drill a vertical hole. But then, everything about fracking is new and very, very different. First of all, fracking wells are much, much deeper than conventional wells. From the bottom of the vertical hole, holes are drilled horizontally. These ‘laterals’ extend out for thousands of feet. Next, a “perforating gun” is lowered into the well, setting off large explosions that blast the shale and force toxic fracking fluids into the rocks. The explosions widen the cracks deep below ground and force the gas out. Unfortunately, along with gas most of the toxic wastewater returns to the surface. Besides known carcinogens like benzene, the returned wastewater can contain radioactive materials thousands of times higher than permitted drinking water standards.

Does this sound like your grandfather’s gas well? It sure isn’t. So the next time someone tells you that fracking is no different from the gas wells here already, ask them “Then what is all the fuss about? Why aren’t we fracking already?” And then explain to them that if the current gas drilling process is like pumping water out of a water well, fracking is like dropping a 1000 pound bomb down your well, setting it off and hoping that something good will come out of it.

VOTER REGISTRATION

If possible, register in person at your local Board of Elections by Friday, October 14^th. Contact information for local Boards can be found using this map:

http://www.elections.state.ny.us/CountyBoards.html

You may also complete the Voter Registration form and mail it to your local Board. REGISTRATIONS MUST BE POSTMARKED BY THIS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14 and received at your local Board by Wednesday, October 19th. You can download the NYS voter registration form here:

http://www.elections.state.ny.us/NYSBOE/download/voting/voteform.pdf

VERIFY YOUR VOTER REGISTRATION!

EVEN IF YOU HAVE VOTED FOR YEARS, PLEASE VERIFY THAT YOUR REGISTRATION IS ACTIVE AND YOU WILL BE ABLE TO VOTE ON NOVEMBER 8TH. As NY has moved voter registration records into a single statewide database, mistakes have occurred. Check your registration status online, and verify that your “Voter Status” on the results page is “Active”:

https://voterlookup.elections.state.ny.us/votersearch.aspx

You may also verify your registration by calling or visiting your local Board of Elections. Contact information for local Boards can be found using this map:

http://www.elections.state.ny.us/CountyBoards.html

ABSENTEE BALLOTS

IF YOU CANNOT VOTE IN-PERSON ON ELECTION DAY, YOU MUST COMPLETE AN ABSENTEE BALLOT FORM.

You must apply for an absentee ballot by mail before Tuesday, November 1st. You may apply in-person at your local Board of Elections by Monday, November 7th.

The Absentee Ballot Application Form can be downloaded here:

http://www.elections.state.ny.us/NYSBOE/download/voting/Absentee06152010.pdf

NYS Board of Elections Absentee Ballot Information:

http://www.elections.state.ny.us/VotingAbsentee.html

* If you have been honorably discharged from the military or have become a naturalized citizen since October 14th, you may register in person at the Board Of Elections until October 28th.

Normally, the small local elections that take place on odd numbered years like 2011 receive little attention, with relatively few voters turning out to vote. Voter participation is quite a bit lower than years when President, Governor, Congress and State Legislature seats are in play. And that means if we can get the voters who normally sit out these off-year elections to the polls this November, we win. Because as I talk to residents of Hector I am convinced that the majority of us are opposed to the destruction that heavy industrial uses such as fracking will bring.

How You Can Help Spread the Word

We have to reach Hector residents who want to preserve our water and strengthen the local economy in a way that benefits all of us. We have to make them aware what’s at stake this year, get them registered to vote if they’re not already, and to get them out to vote on November 8th. And here’s how we can do that:

Internet and Social Media – Even if you don’t live in Hector, you can be a big help reaching Hector voters because of the web of connections we use today. Even if you don’t live in Hector you may have a friend, or a friend of a friend, who does.

• This website – Please reach out to your contacts and let them know about our campaign. Ask them to bookmark this website where I’ll be posting regularly on campaign news, how to talk about fracking, and how citizens can fight back and win.
• Facebook and other Social Media – Again, it’s about reaching Hector residents with our message. The interconnections between Facebook friends are wide and deep. A “Like” of the campaign’s Facebook page may get our message to a Hector resident you don’t even know, via a friend of a friend of a friend. You can Like the page right from this website using the Facebook sidebar link at the right.
  You can view the Facebook page here.

Talk to Your Neighbors – there’s no substitute for the traditional method, getting out and talking to your neighbors. Let them know about our campaign and what’s at stake this year. Between now and November 8th I’ll be talking to everyone in the town of Hector that I can. Help me explain to your Hector friends and neighbors what’s at stake. You could host an informal house party, or simply walk with me one afternoon or evening and introduce me to your neighbors.

Lawn Signs – Lawn signs are especially important in Town Council races. They promote name recognition, and draw attention to our Protect Hector message. If you own road frontage in Hector, or along the larger State highways leading into Hector to the North, South and East, please consider displaying one or more campaign signs. To request a lawn sign, send an email with your name and address and I’ll bring them by.

Donate - Even a small local campaign like Town Council member costs considerable money. Please help me defer the costs of campaigning by making a donation. For a local Town Council campaign such as this one, even small donations of $10 or $20 are a big help. If you’re able, a large donation will help us pay for lawn signs, which cost $5 apiece and are our biggest single campaign expense.
You can donate online or send a check, more info on our Donate Page.

If you know me, you know I’m in this to win this. But I can’t win without your help. This really is the most important Town Council election in your life. Are you in?

The news release can be downloaded here.

Like towns all around New York State’s Southern Tier, Hector is threatened by an invasion of heavy industry that devastates the communities lying in its path. Hydrofracking and the massive industrial activity that comes with it poisons the water, destroys roads, ruins wells, spoils hunting and fishing areas, and divides neighbors.

It’s common knowledge that Water and Gas doesn’t mix. But it’s also true that Wine and Gas doesn’t mix; that Tourism and Gas doesn’t mix; that Hunting and Gas doesn’t mix. Imagine the impact of heavy industrialization on Hector’s growing wine and tourism industries! Will tourists come to an area where the roads are clogged with hundreds of huge trucks 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Will they come to see a landscape is dotted with hundreds of drilling pads, storage facilities, and pipelines? Will the growing reputation of our fine Finger Lakes wines be sustainable when chemical leaks, spills and industrial accidents contaminates our soil and water?

The choice between our growing Wine and Tourism industries and Heavy Industrial Hydrofracking is an Either/Or proposition, we simply can’t have both. Allowing heavy industry into Hector means the two most successful, sustainable industries we now have will be destroyed.

I believe the economic future of the Town of Hector lies in our growing wine and tourism industries, not natural gas. Why? Here’s just a few of my reasons.

• The gas companies promise jobs, but the majority of those jobs go to industry professionals who live outside New York, not the local residents who need them the most.
• The gas companies promise huge and ongoing royalties, but leases often leave landowners holding the bag when wells stop producing much earlier than promised, and they find that banks refuse mortgages on leased property while their property values have collapsed.
• Heavy industrialization will eliminate many natural areas and waterways where game and fish are abundant, greatly reducing opportunities for hunting and fishing. The loud noises created by compressors and heavy machinery running 24/7 will overpower the natural calm and quiet of our forests and meadows cherished by hunters and fishermen.

I’ve lived in Hector for 31 years, and intend to stay here for the rest of my life. I can’t stand by while our natural wonders, our sustainable local industries, and our precious water is destroyed. In the months to come, I hope you can help me spread the word. Together, let’s Protect Hector.