OVERRIDE THE VETO! BAN FRACKING WASTE DUMPING

by guest blogger Linda Baum

If you are a regular on Mike’s blog, you know I’ve been posting updates on the progress of bill A575/S253, which would prevent dangerous fracking waste from coming to New Jersey. On Friday I learned that Governor Christie vetoed the bill.

So now it’s time for our legislative leaders to step up and override the veto, and for all of us to make sure they know we expect them to do so to safeguard our water.

Consumer advocacy organization Food & Water Watch is calling on everyone to flood the State House this week with calls to Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver.

As always, thank you for your activism.
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From Food & Water Watch:

Waste from drilling and fracking for shale gas has been shown to contain radioactive material and other known carcinogens. In Pennsylvania, radioactive fracking wastewater has reportedly been discharged into waterways. To prevent this from happening in New Jersey, we need to act now!

Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection is reporting that facilities in Kearny, Carteret, and Elizabeth have been shipped fracking waste.

Governor Christie vetoed the fracking waste ban, which was passed by the Senate and Assembly with bipartisan support. With your help, we have a real chance to make sure that fracking, and the ill effects associated with it, are never allowed in our state.

PLEASE CALL THESE LEGISLATIVE LEADERS:
Senate President Sweeney: (856) 251-9801
Assembly Speaker Oliver: (973) 395-1166

TALKING POINTS
• As legislative leaders we need you to lead on protecting NJ’s waterways from fracking waste by calling a vote to override the Governor’s veto of A575/S253 and making sure it passes.
• Fracking waste treatment is a threat to our drinking water and should be banned.
• Radioactive fracking waste has been discharged into Pennsylvania’s waterways and we can’t allow it here.

Contact Karina Wilkinson kwilkinson@fwwatch.org 732.839.0862
www.foodandwaterwatch.org

Fracking Waste Ban Awaits Christie’s Signature; Call The Governor’s Office September 4-7 To Ask Him To Sign The Bill!

by guest blogger Linda Baum

This June, bill A575 / S253 was passed by the State legislature with overwhelming support.  The bill, which bans the treatment, storage, disposal and discharge of fracking waste in New Jersey, is still awaiting action by the Governor.

Food and Water Watch, a consumer advocacy non-profit, has designated this week as a call-in week to the Governor’s office and is asking everyone to take a moment to ask the Governor to sign the bill.  

Please call:

1-866-846-4075

The phone number is a special line set up by FWW that has a short greeting before you are connected to the Governor’s office.

Even though the bill has already passed the Legislature, we should continue to urge our state legislators to support the fracking waste ban and to insist that they tell the Governor to support it.  There are two reasons for this. One is that the steadfast support of the Legislature could positively influence Christie’s decision.  The other reason to stay on top of our legislators is so that they will be less inclined to flip flop when it’s time for an override.

You can find names and phone numbers of senators and assemblypersons by town here:  http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/districts/municipalities.asp.

Thanks to all of you who already contacted your legislators and the Governor this year to ask for their support.  Your help is needed once again to keep the pressure on.

As always, thank you for your activism.

Bill Banning Fracking Waste Passes State Senate, Headed To Governor

by guest blogger Linda Baum


I received the following communication from Jim Walsh of Food and Water Watch and just wanted to let you know: “The Senate passed the [fracking waste] ban 30-5 with 5 abstentions. This is huge moment that is a testament to everyone's hard work on this effort.”

Many thanks to all of you who contacted your legislators to support A575/S253. This victory in the legislature is an important step in keeping our water sources clean, protecting our health, and ensuring a vibrant marine economy. We must now turn our attention to the Governor to make sure he signs on. New Jersey must not become the nation’s dumping ground.
Please send an email to Governor Christie asking him not to veto the fracking waste ban and share this link with your friends: http://bit.ly/NoFrackingVetoGovChrisite

I will keep you posted on future developments, and thank you all once again.

FRACKING WASTE BAN PASSES THE STATE ASSEMBLY, SENATE VOTES ON MONDAY

by guest blogger Linda Baum

If you’ve been following the progress of bills A575/S253, which ban the treatment, storage, disposal and discharge of fracking waste in New Jersey, you may have heard that just last week the State Assembly passed the fracking waste ban by a huge margin – the vote was 56 yes and 19 no, with 4 not voting. 

Thanks to all of you who called or emailed your legislators to ask them to support the bill.  I’m told that the number of calls and emails from residents in legislative district 13 – Middletown and surrounding parts of Monmouth County – outnumbered those from other districts by 2 to 1.  So kudos to you all.

Supporters of the bill are hoping for a strong showing in the State Senate as well.  The Senate vote is scheduled for this Monday, 6/25.  

So if you haven’t already, please call or send an email to your State Senator asking him or her to pass the fracking waste ban.  You can find senators' names and phone numbers by town here:  http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/districts/municipalities.asp.  The following link can be used to generate an email:    http://bit.ly/PassNJFrackWasteBan

Thank you for your activism.

Get Your Frack On; Free Seminar at Middletown Library

Fracking extracts natural gas by injecting a high-­pressure mix of water, sand, and toxic chemicals into the ground. Fracking poses significant risks to water, air quality, and health. Hear a panel of experts discuss the issues.

 Thursday, June 7, 2012, 7:00 – 8:45 p.m.

 Middletown Public Library

 55 New Monmouth Road, Middletown, NJ

PANELISTS:

Larysa Dyrszka, M.D., Physicians, Scientists & Engineers for Healthy Energy Susan Kraham, Senior Staff Attorney, Environmental Law Clinic, Columbia U. Jim Walsh, Eastern Region Director, Food & Water Watch

Moderator: Jan Dash PhD, former member Middletown Green team.

Expert Biographies:

Dr Larysa Dyrszka is a graduate of Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis. Following residency and board certification in pediatrics, she practiced general pediatrics for over twenty years and held the position of Director of Pediatrics at Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, NJ for six years. Her recent work has been focused on children’s rights with the Conference of NGOs at the United Nations Committee on Children’s Rights, particularly human trafficking. She has been a SUNY Sullivan Board of Trustees member since 2009. Most recently she has become an advocate for public health on the issue of gas drilling. She is a founding member of Sullivan Area Citizens for Responsible Energy Development, an affiliate member of Physicians, Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy and on the steering committee of Damascus Citizens for Sustainability.

Susan J. Kraham is a Senior Staff Attorney and Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia Law School's Environmental Law Clinic. Susan has spent her legal career representing public interest clients with a particular focus on environmental and land use law. Prior to joining the Environmental Law Clinic, Susan served as Counsel to the New Jersey Audubon Society. From 1998 until 2005 she was an Associate Clinical Professor in the Environmental Law Clinic at Rutgers Law School, Newark. Susan was a 1992 graduate of Columbia Law School. She also has a Masters in Urban Planning from New York University’s Wagner School. After graduation from Law School, Susan clerked for the Honorable Justice Gary Stein of the New Jersey Supreme Court. She was a Skadden fellow. Susan was also an echoing green fellow where she partnered on a community based environmental justice project.

Jim Walsh is a dedicated political organizer with over ten years experience working in local and national movements to empower communities to work for social, racial and economic justice. Jim currently serves as the Eastern Region Director for Food & Water Watch. In this capacity, Jim is overseeing and implementing a regional strategy to ensure the wellbeing of the public triumphs over private interests who profit from the exploitation of the essential resources of food and water.

Jim first found his passion for social justice when he started volunteering for the Milwaukee Catholic Workers while earning a degree in Economics from Marquette University. After graduating from Marquette, he participated in an organizing fellowship with the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group at Rutgers University, where he worked to organize communities to improve the quality of waterways in the Garden State and stop oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. After completing the fellowship, Jim went on to work for the Progressive Action Network, where he organized grassroots campaigns in six states for more affordable medications, preservation of farmland and stopping the privatization of Social Security.

In 2006 Jim worked with Family Promise, a national network of 4,500 congregations, to develop a public policy program focused on preventing and ending homelessness in America. This program is currently engaging thousands of volunteers in congregation based letter-writing campaigns. Prior to working for Food and Water Watch, Jim worked as the Program Director for New Jersey Citizen Action, the state’s largest citizen watchdog coalition. In this capacity, he would oversee education and public policy campaigns focused on a variety of social justice issues ranging from health care for all to ending the war in Iraq and ensuring our state and federal governments pass moral budgets that address the needs of people rather than those with money and power. During his free time, Jim spends time with his wife Marisa who is a high school science teacher. He also enjoys gardening, is active in a local movement to increase participation and representation of local communities, and sits on the board of the George St. Co-op, a cooperatively owned health food store in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Jim can be reached at jwalsh@fwwatch.org.

Free GASLAND Screening in Rumson on Thursday, May 31st

by guest blogger Linda Baum

Have you still not seen the documentary GASLAND?  Do you want to see it again?  Join Food and Water Watch this Thursday evening, May 31st, from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. at Rumson Presbyterian, 4 East River Road, Rumson, NJ 07760 for a FREE community screening of the film.  To register, please visit:  http://bit.ly/GaslandAtRumsonPresbyterian

GASLAND exposes the highly pollutive process known as fracking, short for hydraulic fracturing, whereby natural gas is extracted from shale rock by pumping a large volume of water, sand, and toxic chemicals into the ground.  See the movie trailer here:  http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/trailer.

PBS did an illuminating interview with the film’s creator, Josh Fox.  Here’s the link:   http://video.pbs.org/video/1452296560/. 

Stick around after the movie for a discussion on how you can be involved in the local campaign to ban fracking and fracking waste in New Jersey.  Also, there is a FREE seminar on fracking at the Middletown Library main branch on June 7^th at 7 p.m.

Vote On Delaware River Basin Fracking Ban Postponed

Readers of this blog know my stance on the hydraulic fracturing(fracking) shale in order to release natural gas deposits that were unattainable before the process was developed, I have posted about its potential harm to our enviroment and drinking water supplies numerous times in the past which you can read Here... Here and Here .

Until it can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the process is not harmful to the environment or to our drinking water supplies the practice of fracking should be haulted. Fresh clean, drinkable water is becoming scarce and harder to find, thus it is becoming a precious commodity that shouldn't be messed with.

So the vote yesterday morning to postponing the upcoming Monday mornings vote to approve the process in and along the Delaware River Basin (a key fresh water source for residents of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware) is welcomed news.

Accoding to the Star-Ledger environmental groups are pleased with this postponment:

Environmentalists greeted the vote postponement as a major victory, and for grassroots activism. Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper, said the anti-fracking contingent would still be demonstrating in Trenton on Monday morning as previously planned, despite the cancellation.

"There's still going to be a showing — to send a message, largely," she said.

"As long as there is a delay, we can continue working toward getting a permanent ban on fracking in the Delaware basin," added Jeff Tittel, executive director of the Sierra Club's New Jersey chapter. "We need to keep the pressure up on Governor Christie and the Obama administration to stop these weak rules from moving forward."

You can read the more about the postponement .... Here

Is New Jersey Playing Games with Fracking Ban?

The following commentary from Dennis Anderson, Chair of the Jersey Shore (Monmouth) Group of the Sierra Club and Joellen Lundy, President of N.J. Friends of Clearwater appears on the website Newjerseynewsroom.com as well as a few other sites.

I post it here because the subject of hydraulic fracturing(fracking) shale in order to release natural gas deposits that were unattainable before the process was developed, has become a very big issue. The chemicals that are used in the process have polluted ground water and surrounding lands with hazardous and carcinogenic residues, guest blogger Linda Baum posted a column about fracking and it's dangers here back in April.

Since then a number of articles on the subject, both Pro and Con, have been making there way into the media.

Legislation banning Fracking in NJ, is sitting on Governor Christie's desk waiting for his signature. Why he hasn't signed it yet is anyone's guess.

NJ is the most densely populated state in the nation and our natural resources will be placed at risk if franking is allowed to continue without the proper safety constraints in place to ensure that drinking water, wildlife and the general population are not placed risk:

Opponents of the environmentally damaging practice now sweeping the country of hydrofracking shale deposits for natural gas were delighted last week when the N.J. Legislature voted to ban the practice. The vote, 33 to 1 in the Senate and 51 to 11 in the Assembly, showed such a rare bi-partisan agreement so absent in today’s political discourse that many environmentalists hoped New Jersey’s politicians finally recognized that solving the state’s pollution problems transcends partisan bickering.

We hope this is the case, but we’re not sure. Gov. Christie, who has become increasingly hostile to the state’s environmental problems, has yet to sign the bill. If he does, it will be a watershed event. But will he? Sen. Joseph M. Kyrollis Jr. did not vote on the bill but offered an amendment — rejected by the Senate — to ban hydrofracking for five years. But why would Kyrollis delay hydrofracking?

There is growing public anger over hydrofracking, which requires enormous amounts of water and a number of toxic chemicals that the frackers are not required by law to report. Vice President Dick Cheney accomplished this dodge while in office. These undisclosed chemicals pollute both underground and surface water supplies. This debacle is very hard for politicians to support, so we may be seeing a “pretend” vote where pro-development politicians duck citizens’ ire by voting against hydrofracking, knowing that the governor will use his veto power to avoid an out-right ban and force environmentally responsible politicians to accept Kyrollis’ “compromise” that opens the door in five years.

The state of New Jersey deserves better. Until hydrofracking is absolutely safe, it must be banned. The first step would be to require complete disclosure of the chemicals they plan on indirectly pumping into our water supply.