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.