(Town of Lenox, NY – Feb. 2012) On Feb. 11, the Great Swamp Conservancy will hold its Birds n Bagels program from  9 to 11 a.m. Fred Zufelt will ID winter birds at the GSC feeders, answer birding questions and give bird feeding tips while participants enjoy coffee, hot cocoa, and bagels. This is an informal drop in; donations welcome.

The Great Swamp Conservancy is located at 8375 N. Main St. Road, Canastota.

For more information, call 697-2950.

(Wampsville, NY – Feb. 2012) A Public Hearing was held Monday, Feb. 6, in the Board of Supervisors Chambers in the Madison County Office Building in Wampsville to discuss the proposed Agriculture and Renewable Energy Business Park in the town of Lincoln.

The public hearing was held to provide an opportunity for the public to comment on the completed State Environmental Quality Review and the draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement for the project.

The dGEIS describes the project and potential impacts this project may have on the environment and proposed measures to mitigate potential impacts. The dGEIS and all of its appendices are available online for review and comment at madisoncounty.org.

Written comments regarding issues to be addressed in the dGEIS will be accepted until 1 p.m. March 14. Submit written comments to the Madison County Planning Department, 38 N. Court St., P.O. Box 606, Wampsville, N.Y. 13163, Attention: Proposed ARE Business Park.

Comments may also be emailed to planning@madisoncounty.ny.gov; indicate “Proposed ARE Business Park” in the subject line of the e-mail message.

Think Local

By Chris Hoffman

(Sherburne, NY – Feb. 2012) On Jan. 31 the Associated Press released a story that should make everyone in CNY wake up in the middle of the night screaming.

Despite assurances to the contrary to northern Pennsylvania landowners, Central New York Oil and Gas Company LLC (CNYOG), a subsidiary of Inergy LP of Kansas City, MO, began eminent domain proceedings against about half of the 150 property owners along a 39-mile, $250 million natural gas pipeline that had been approved by the federal government just days earlier.  The high-pressure, 30-inch steel pipeline is intended to connect interstate pipelines with CNYOG’s gas storage facility in southern New York.

Landowners claim in a lawsuit that CNYOG has refused to negotiate in good faith and is avoiding PA’s eminent domain rules after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) invested CNYOG with eminent domain power, which essentially eviscerates any power the landowners might have had.  CNYOG is also offering significantly less money for properties than another pipeline company had paid to install a gathering line.  In its eminent domain filings, CNYOG has valued 37 targeted properties at less than $311,000 in total – about $8,400 each.

In addition to determining that the pipeline would have no significant impact on the environment, FERC also relied on CNYOG’s assertion that there would be little need to resort to eminent domain because landowners were willingly negotiating with the company.

It turns out that CNYOG had already prepared the eminent domain proceedings paperwork well before FERC granted approval for the pipeline. CNYOG also told landowners that all deals are off if any legal challenge ensued. CNYOG appears to have no interest in negotiating anything with landowners – not the route of the pipeline, not the location of access roads, and not the price they will pay landowners to use their land – $2 a foot.

In the meantime, Josh Fox, producer of the award-winning anti-fracking documentary “Gasland,” was arrested on Feb. 1 in Washington DC for attempting to film a House Science Committee meeting on hydraulic fracturing, and an ABC News film crew was also denied access to the meeting.  Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.) moved to suspend the committee rules and allow Fox and ABC to film the hearing, but Republicans voted to table the motion.

So, let’s recap.  We have a federal agency that sees no potential environmental harm from installing a 39-mile pipeline through mountainous pristine waterways, forest ecosystems, and private farmland.  We have a gas company that tells landowners one thing and then does something entirely different behind their backs that will result in loss of property and environmental destruction.  And we have the federal government in the form of the House of Representatives refusing to allow the press access to public business, and even going so far as to have a journalist arrested.  In America this is happening!

The gas companies’ position is becoming increasingly transparent: do not get in our way because you will pay. One way or another, pipelines and drill pads and drill rigs and all the hideous ancillary paraphernalia and devastating ramifications that go hand in hand with this destructive industry shall soon be the new normal if the gas companies get their way.

I cannot think of a more obvious example of what is happening to what used to be known as American democracy.

In 1932, Benito Mussolini wrote, “Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.”

Eighty years later, it has happened – is happening – again.  Corporate interests have become overwhelmingly enmeshed in government business, and government policy has become myopically geared to corporate mandates.

Will your farm or your home be the next target of eminent domain unleashed by the gas companies?  Will you bankrupt your family trying to fight them, and end up losing anyway?  Will you just roll over and slink away, give it all up, because the fight isn’t worth the cost?

Or will you join the larger fight to end corporate dominion over our lives and thus one day be able to tell your grandchildren that you were part of a grassroots effort that saved CNY from destruction by the gas companies?

We will all make this choice, willingly or begrudgingly.  It begins now.

Chris Hoffman lives in the village of Sherburne in her 150+ year-old house where she caters to the demands of her four cats, attempts to grow heirloom tomatoes and herbs and reads voraciously. She passionately pursues various avenues with like-minded friends to preserve and protect a sustainable rural lifestyle for everyone in Central New York. 

By Franci Valenzano

(Morrisville, NY – Feb. 2012) The date of this year’s annual Winter Fest is Feb. 11. Cross country skiing and snowshoeing are among the planned activities during the sixth annual event, which was originally scheduled for Feb. 18.

Events, which are free and open to the public, will take place from 2 to 7 p.m. at the Morrisville-Eaton Elementary School located on Eaton Street.

Indoor games, a presentation on survival tactics, and ice skating from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the Morrisville State College IcePlex are also part of the festivities.

From 3-5 p.m., participants can visit the Utica ZooMobile, see a magician and watch “Talons! A Birds of Prey Experience,” which includes flying presentations and personal interaction with birds of prey.

The Skaneateles Newfoundland Club will also be on site with several Newfoundland dogs.

Chili, hot dogs, cookies, hot cocoa, punch and coffee will be served throughout the event. Students from various Morrisville State College student organizations will be assisting with Winter Fest.

The MAX campus shuttle service will be available for students and community members, and will also travel to Cedar Street Apartments and Wilcox Apartments.

Winter Fest is cosponsored by the Campus/Community Relations Committee, an organization comprised of local business representatives and faculty, staff and students at Morrisville State College who meet monthly to discuss and plan special annual events throughout the village such as the Halloween parade, Easter egg hunt, and Christmas tree lighting.

Franci Valenzano is Public Relations Associate at Morrisville State College.

(Madison, NY – Jan. 2012) Spring may be a few months away, but the Madison County Conservation District is already thinking green with its annual 2012 Tree and Shrub Seedling Sale. This year’s sale features a variety of trees and shrubs to fit all kinds of landscaping needs.

Many of the species are ideal for erosion control and many are attractive uses for wildlife food and cover, windscreens, shade, and privacy.

There are 27 different varieties of trees and shrubs offered along with fruit trees, strawberries, ground cover, and variety packs. All of these trees and shrubs are bare root, not balled and sold in bundles of 10 or more.

People interested in ordering can visit the district’s Web site at madcoswcd.com for an order form or can call (315) 824-9849 ext.3. Orders with cash or check payment are due by March 23, and the plants will be available for pickup April 12 at the district’s pole barn at the USDA Service Center in Madison.

Going Green

By Jim Bona

(Hamilton, NY – Jan. 2012) There has been a buzz lately about some local gas stations selling growlers of beer.  (Sorry for the bad pun….I couldn’t resist).

Growlers are glass jugs used to transport draft beer to be consumed at home, rather than being bottled and capped.  (They are half a gallon capacity, which is about the same amount in a six pack. It is said that the word derives from the sound that is made by the carbonation of the beer escaping through the gasket that seals the container).

Some people are upset that beer sold at gas stations, in this type of container, is thought to be more easily obtained by under-aged drinkers. That is not the point of this article, although beer has been bought and sold at gas stations in bottle and can six and twelve packs for many, many years. Why all of a sudden that beer in a new type of package would be setting off alarms is different, to say the least.

My point is that selling beer in growlers is very green. Individual bottles, with all the accompanying expenditures of time, money and energy associated with distributing the beer, are definitely not as green. Even if the used bottles are cleaned and refilled, which is more green than recycling them, it is still more expensive.  Although there may be some cost to transporting a keg, it is way less than moving cases and cases of beer bottles and cans.  No deposit to deal with, either. No accumulating cans and bottles to be returned to get the deposit back. Anyone who has had to load the car to bring back empties of any sort knows the bother that can be.  So, growlers look to be a great solution for the age-old problem of the 5 cent deposit.

There are some drawbacks, though. Since the carbonation of the beer only lasts for maybe three days in a growler after you open it, you have to be sure that you are going to consume it all, within that timeframe. (It can sit in the fridge unopened for longer). This might be difficult if you just have one glass a day. It would work better if you knew you were going to have some friends over, and there would be little or no leftover to go flat.

There used to be a deli down the street that sold growlers, but they closed the business.  Luckily, though, a new brewery has just opened up in town. Right now, they are only selling growlers (and kegs to local bars) but may be bottling soon. Growlers are definitely the way to go. Just like any other type of alcohol, your bottles MUST remain sealed until you get home, no matter how impatient or thirsty you might be.

Jim Bona is a technician at Colgate and passionate about all things green. He can be reached at jbona@mail.colgate.edu.

Editor’s Note: Due to the large volume of incorrect information circulating on the topic of natural gas development, authors of letters to the editor on the subject should define their terms – high-volume hydraulic fracturing versus low-volume hydraulic fracturing – and also cite the sources for the information used in the body of the message. For more information, feel free to contact Managing Editor Martha E. Conway at (315) 813.0124 Monday through Friday after 12:30 p.m. or weekends.

To the Editor:

(Canastota, NY – Jan. 2012) Hydrofrackers get off God’s land. Gas drilling produces millions of gallons of contaminated flowback fluid daily. This contaminated waste water is stored in huge air-pollution, asthma-producing waste pits before being hauled away.

In the town of Lincoln, Madison County, there are 24 leases with the gas companies, and there are plenty of waste pits included in these leases. Many of these leases border fresh water sources.

The diesel rigs for hydrofracking are already coming through our town. How many gas leases with waste pits are there in our community?

Methane, benzene, toluene, total dissolved solids, chlorides, phosphorus and metals including arsenic and manganese, as well as radioactive materials are commonly found in the by-product of gas drilling.

Open waste pits are not banned in New York state. Recovered drilling mud contains drill cuttings from the shale, which, by definition, have elevated levels of radioactivity. The following gas companies are involved in the town of Lincoln: RV Curll & Associates, Ardent Resources, Inc,; Salt City Resources, LLC; and New York Shale Gas, LLC.

“I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and you made my inheritance detestable” Jeremiah 2:7.

Judy McConnell-Steffen, Canastota

(Madison County, NY – Jan. 19, 2012) The Madison County Department of Solid Waste has just released a new promotional video called Madison County Renewable Energy Projects.

“We wanted something that could be used as a promotional tool for the Madison County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) to encourage new businesses to relocate to our proposed Agricultural Renewable Energy Park (ARE) and to take advantage of the low cost green energy being produced at the Buyea Road Landfill site,” explained Director James A. Zecca. “We also wanted a product that could be used as an educational tool by our County Recycling Coordinator Sharon A. Driscoll.”

Several features that make the ARE Park a level above other business parks include, low cost green energy i.e. heat and electricity; low cost land for development and the close proximity to the New York State Thruway.

“Development of the ARE Park will put land back on the County and town tax rolls, and create new jobs for the residents of Madison County,” said John M. Becker, chairman of the Madison County Board of Supervisors.

The new video touts the promotion of green energy at the County’s landfill, citing the gas-to-energy facility that takes advantage of the methane gas produced naturally in the landfill and turning it into low cost electricity and heat for proposed businesses and the new solar array that supplies electricity to the Madison-Cortland ARC Recycling Center.

The green energy projects now located at the County landfill have sparked the interest of a number of area colleges and neighboring government agencies. Educational tours of the site are on the rise, according to Driscoll.

The video, produced by Acumen Media, is now on YouTube and can be found if you type in the search space, Madison County Renewable Energy Project. The video can also be viewed on the Madison County Web site madisoncounty.ny.gov.

Think Local

By Chris Hoffman

(Sherburne, NY – Jan. 2012) In November 2011, Clean Technica reported that a company called HyperSolar had filed a patent application for a breakthrough technology that creates renewable natural gas from sunlight, water and carbon dioxide.

HyperSolar’s press release stated that this renewable natural gas is a clean, carbon neutral methane gas that can be used as a direct replacement for traditional natural gas to power the world, without drilling or fracking, while mitigating CO2 emissions.

Inspired by the photosynthetic processes that plants use to effortlessly harness the power of the sun to create energy molecules, the company’s solar-powered nanoparticle system mimics photosynthesis to separate hydrogen from water. Free hydrogen particles are then reacted with carbon dioxide to produce methane.

Nanoparticles work in a water based solution to produce clean and environmentally friendly renewable natural gas that can be collected for use in power plants, industrial plants and vehicles – anywhere and anytime.

The company is currently focusing on commercializing this breakthrough technology that uses low cost manufacturing techniques, nanostructure innovations for high efficiency, and freely available sunlight, wastewater and carbon dioxide to produce hydrogen and methane.

HyperSolar’s CEO Tim Young explains the process: “For almost a century, scientists have tried and failed to ‘split water’ cost effectively to produce hydrogen and oxygen.  Our process does not produce oxygen, which has no significant value and is an expensive and slow reaction. Unlike conventional electrolysis, where hydrogen and oxygen atoms are completely disassociated using a large voltage, we designed our reactions to use a very small voltage and only produce hydrogen.

“By elegantly engineering the reaction kinetics toward hydrogen generation in conjunction with wastewater, our nanoparticles function as one-way machines that detoxify wastewater and produce clean water and pure hydrogen in the presence of sunlight.  No other energy source is required, making this an extremely economical and commercially viable approach to hydrogen production – hence, renewable natural gas production.

“The whole process occurs at a normal temperature and pressure.  To achieve world scale operation, HyperSolar envisions very inexpensive reactors installed on vacant, non-productive land, producing massive amounts of carbon neutral methane that can be piped into the existing natural gas infrastructure for everyday use in homes, power plants, factories, and vehicles.

”With hundreds of billions of dollars already invested in natural gas infrastructure and trillions more dollars on the way, we believe natural gas as a primary fuel is a reality. However, the environmental risks associated with the extraction and usage of conventional natural gas is also a reality. Using advanced nanotechnology, HyperSolar intends to eliminate the harmful aspects of extracting natural gas and preserve its existing delivery infrastructure and economy by fundamentally changing the source of natural gas from underground to above ground … in a renewable and sustainable manner.”

Key concepts here:  RENEWABLE, WITHOUT DRILLING or FRACKING, COST-EFFECTIVE, USES EXISTING WASTEWATER, ENVIRONMENTALLY SAFE.

Contrast this with the ramifications of fracking: environmental destruction and pollution, expensive massive infrastructure, earthquakes, methane migration to water wells and aquifers, toxic runoff into soil, streams and rivers, uses millions of gallons of fresh water per well.

Question: If a middle-aged woman sitting in front of a 5-year-old iMac in her pajamas (that would be me) can learn about this, why is absolutely no one in our state or local governments knowledgeable about, talking about, or investigating a technology that would not only give us a new energy source, but do so without destroying our land in the process?

Answer: Because all the decision makers are beholden to the gas companies and blinded by PAC money and campaign contributions and therefore have no incentive to think outside the box of money that keeps them in power.

Request: Tell everyone you know about this new technology – your local town and village board members, county supervisors, and everyone in Albany from the governor on down.

In a phone conversation with Young, he told me, “Wherever you have hydrogen, you can make natural gas.”  He said this new technology is still in the developmental stages, with a large-scale pilot study planned for the next 9-12 months.

My point is this: If a new benign technology is on the horizon, why allow a destructive process like hydrofracking to begin in the first place? We do not need to rush into this!

More information can be obtained from Jerry Schranz, Senior Account Executive at Beckerman PR, One University Plaza, Suite 507, Hackensack, New Jersey 07601, email jschranz@beckermanpr.com or directly from HyperSolar, 629 State Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, email info@hypersolar.com, telephone 805-966-6566 or visit hypersolar.com.

Chris Hoffman lives in the village of Sherburne in her 150+ year-old house where she caters to the demands of her four cats, attempts to grow heirloom tomatoes and herbs and reads voraciously. She passionately pursues various avenues with like-minded friends to preserve and protect a sustainable rural lifestyle for everyone in Central New York. 

Think Local

By Chris Hoffman

(Sherburne, NY – Jan. 2012) On Jan. 10, Common Cause/NY released a third report in their series on the financial relationship between the gas industry and NYS politicians entrusted with the task of determining policy on hydraulic fracturing.

Common Cause is a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 1970 as a vehicle for citizens to make their voices heard in the political process and to hold their elected leaders accountable to the public interest.  With nearly 400,000 members and supporters and 36 state organizations, Common Cause is “the citizen’s lobbyist,” committed to honest, open and accountable government, with clean elections and ethical standards for elected officials.

The report reveals that between January 2007 and October 2011, the gas industry made 2,349 campaign contributions to state and local politicians and parties in New York, representing more than $1.34 million.

75 percent of the $1.34 million went to Senate and Assembly candidates, with $300,000 going to “soft money accounts” that are allowed to accept unlimited contributions.  $230,557 went to the top ten State Legislative recipients, and Gov. Cuomo’s 2010 campaign received $153,816.

The top 12 gas companies and energy associations contributed over 90 percent of total contributions to the industry.  A mere 7 percent of campaign contributions came from small donors contributing $250 or less.

The top twelve gas industry campaign contributors are:

National Grid – $275,722

Con Edison – $214,232

National Fuel – $193,258

Independent Power Producers of New York – $192,643

Competitive Power Ventures – $89,316

Constellation Energy – $61,674

NYSEG/RG&E/Iberdrola – $60,432

Central Hudson/CH Energy – $29,808

Dominion Resources – $25,250

Independent Oil & Gas Association of NY – $25,210

Chesapeake Appalachia – $24,800

NRG Energy – $22,912

Bet you didn’t know this: NYSEG (New York State Electric and Gas) and RG&E (Rochester Gas and Electric) are subsidiaries of Iberdrola USA, which is a global energy conglomerate based NOT in New York but – wait for it — in Spain!

The gas industry also spent almost $100,000 on various local candidates around the state (including county executives, county legislators, city council members, town supervisors, and mayors) and gave almost $30,000 to county and town level local party committees. Think maybe you should be asking if your local reps received any of this money?

Additionally, The Business Council of New York State, the most influential statewide business lobby, supports fracking the Marcellus and was opposed to the 2010 moratorium bill.

Between January 2007 and October 2011, the gas industry contributed $19,300 to the Business Council PAC, which then contributed over $280,000 to NYS politicians, including $83,750 to Senate Republican soft money, $26,900 to Assembly Democratic soft money, and $9,000 to Cuomo’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign. The Business Council is also one of New York’s top lobbyists, spending over $3.2 million during this period to influence Albany.

The Unshackle Upstate Campaign, another major business organization that supports fracking, spent $841,783 on lobbying from 2007 to October 2011.

So, here’s the bottom line: while ordinary citizens have been engaging in whatever form of anti-fracking activism suits our particular abilities, for the past four years the industry has been funneling huge amounts of money into political campaigns and government entities to buy influence and a guaranteed vote.  Industry has out-influenced the citizenry by a margin of more than 14:1. Remember the Enron tapes that showed industry hacks and traders laughing and making fun of the consumer as they manipulated the market to Enron’s advantage?  I imagine that this is precisely what all the gas industry lobbyists and CEOs do when they see news coverage of the 23 anti-fracking people who showed up at a SGEIS public hearing.

While we hope and pray that our letters and emails and demonstrations and disparate organizations begging to be heard in Albany will have the desired effect, that our “leaders” will do the right thing and protect us and the land that sustains us, the reality is that there is not a chance in Hell that what we want matters one iota when matched against the massive, powerful, and monied corporate agenda.

If you believe for a New York second that the recipients of industry dollars will consider anything other than what their masters want, you are hopelessly naïve.  If you believe that government regulators will – or can – do their job once pollution and contamination and illness start to show up where drilling is taking place, I can only ask, “what rock have you been living under for the past three decades?”  It’s all about money.  Always was, always will be.  And the rest of us be damned.  For the full report, see commoncause.org/ny/deepdrillingdeeppockets.

Chris Hoffman lives in the village of Sherburne in her 150+ year-old house where she caters to the demands of her four cats, attempts to grow heirloom tomatoes and herbs and reads voraciously. She was instrumental in defeating NYRI’s power lines through her work with STOP NYRI, Inc., and passionately pursues various avenues with like-minded friends to preserve and protect a sustainable rural lifestyle for everyone in Central New York.