The Catskill Chronicle

[SULLIVAN COUNTY] – On Friday August 14, 2009, Liz Bucar and Leni Santoro will begin their road trip to light up the Delaware River Basin. "The two granny-somethings" are hitting the road to personally invite Delaware River Basin residents to a September 6 Labor Day River Party.

Beginning  in Philadelphia, PA on  Friday August 14 and ending in Hancock, NY on Sunday August 16, Bucar and Santoro will distribute River Party invitations to as many community organizations and activists as they can reach.

Bucar explained the purpose of both the Delaware River Road Trip and the Labor Day River Party.

"We have to focus national attention on the  dangers posed by drilling and fracking to the Delaware River Basin. We want as many people and media as possible to gather along the banks of the River on September 6, 2009.

“Fifteen million people depend on The River for their water. This Labor Day, it’s critical that we celebrate the works of the River, its culture  and people.

“Each river community can organize whatever complimentary celebrations they want along their stretch of the river. They can play baseball, camp out – whatever they like so long as they do it on the banks of the River.

"Beginning at 7 p.m., each person will pour a single cup of water into the River and then, at 7:30 p.m., each will light a candle. We want The Basin lit from Philadelphia to Hancock. It’ll be a brilliant beacon of conservation not exploitation.”

The two women will send updates from the road via  Bucar’s “Breathing Is Political” site and The Catskill Chronicle. Both sites will provide September 6 Delaware River Party updates as they occur.

River Community organizers can email their plans to ljbucar@earthlink. net or leni5s@yahoo. com for inclusion. A Twitter account has also been set up to follow their progress at: http://twitter. com/stopgasdrill ing

"We’re asking  River community organizers to do a lot on a tight schedule. First, they should email ljbucar@earthlink. net to meet up with us and receive the flyers during the river trip. They’ll need to alert their local media about The Delaware River Basin Labor Day Party and distribute the Party Invitations door-to-door or in front of their local post offices or do whatever will get them into the most hands. Folks who receive the flyer via email should forward it to all the river-lovers, water-lovers, community organizers, environmental groups and media they know."

The women echo the concerns of many conservationists. In a recent series of Breathing Is Political articles, Bucar wrote, "On July 15, 2009, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) extended the public comment period on Chesapeake Appalachia’s  application to begin withdrawing up to 30 million gallons of surface water per month for a ten year period. I’m afraid they’ll render approval at the end of September and open the door to what both  conservationists and drilling proponents predict will be thousands of  wells in the Basin."

In accord with Damascus Citizens for Sustainability (DCS), Bucar and Santoro want the DRBC to table all drilling and fracking applications until after an Environmental Impact Statement has been issued and independent, scientific studies evaluate the cumulative impacts of drilling, fracking and waste water disposal on the Delaware River Basin. 

To learn more and/or to follow along on the trip of the two grannies also be sure to check this brand new website just created for this purpose by Tanyette Colon – Light Up The Delaware River Party.

Many thanks to Tanyette for all her help.