To the Editor:
Today the Delaware River was named the most endangered river in the United States by American Rivers, a leading conservation organization that stands up for healthy rivers so communities can thrive.
The Delaware River was selected for this unfortunate distinction because it stands at the epicenter of industrial gas drilling using hydrofracking, both from wells that are already active in Pennsylvania and wells that are planned in New York State.
Right now the destiny of this great river and the entire Catskill region hangs in the balance.
Ramsay Adams, Executive Director of Catskill Mountainkeeper spoke at today’s commemoration. “Today is the first chapter of a story that has two possible endings,” he said. He went on that we can either come together and protect, nurture and care for this irreplaceable resource or we can let the blind pursuit of profits turn the Delaware into our Gulf – a toxic wasteland where the water for 17,000,000 people will be fouled, our fish will die, our plant life will die and using the river for recreation will become a distant memory.
Ramsay called on us all to become environmentalists – “Today, right now, is the moment when we get to decide whether we will be ‘reasonable’ and let the overwhelming momentum carry us and as a result lose the Delaware or say ‘No, we won’t let this happen’ and begin the long hard fight that we know can be won.”
Catskill Mountainkeeper invites every one of you to become someone who is willing to do what is required to save important parts of our natural world and not let human affairs overwhelm irreplaceable natural resources for short term gains like higher quarterly profits.
No doubt the people in Louisiana thought it was ‘reasonable’ not to ask too many questions, demand more regulation and enforcement or get in the way of the giant gas and petroleum industry that was bringing revenue into their area. Ask those people now how they feel and we’re sure they will tell you that they wish they had done it differently.
We encourage you to learn the facts, develop a point of view and then go to work.
The effort to save the Delaware is another battle in the war to prevent the Catskill region and the entire state of New York from being exposed to unacceptable risks from gas drilling using hydrofracking under the insufficient guidelines planned by the New York State DEC to supervise it. The only way to prevent drilling until we can establish that it can be done safely and install needed regulations, enforcement and penalties is for you to speak up to your elected officials and demand that they do something before it’s to late.
Take personal action today and help us prevent the Catskills from becoming the Gulf Coast of the Northeast.
Join over 3100 people telling the DEC “No drilling until the EPA completes the scientific study on hydrofracking’s impact on water.” Sign the common sense petition HERE
Read the signatures and comments HERE
Find out more about the EPA study HERE
Write an e-mail letter – Join hundreds of others who have sent letters – use this easy template form – fill out your name and email address and leave personal comment (optional)
Send Governor David Paterson an email HERE
Send DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis an email HERE
Send EPA Administrator for the 2nd Region Judith Enck an email HERE
Click here to donate so that Catskill Mountainkeeper can continue this fight.
Support our ally in the fight to save the Delaware:
The Damascus Citizens – click here to find out more.
Catskill Mountainkeeper
Youngsville
The Catskill Chronicle 
Gadfly Replies –
Dear Catskill Mountainkeeper:
Your strong letter cautions against the “drill, baby, drill” approach to gas mining in the Delaware Valley and Catskill Mountain region. You note that the dangers of hydraulic fracturing have brought American Rivers to designate The Delaware the most endangered River in the US.
Well said, until you ask a delay on drilling “until we can establish that it can be done safely, and install needed regulations….” Gadfly says “Let us speak the whole truth.” The Gadfly Revelry & Research team has determined that gas drilling with the hydrofracturing technique is inherently dangerous because: 1) it uses a million gallons of water laced with several toxic chemicals at every drill site, 2) each gas well is drilled right through the water table, and c) the methane and other gases are highly flammable and explosive. No amount of regulation can make the technology safe. Indeed, the disastrous results of gas drilling in TX, WY, CO, and western & northeastern PA are well documented.
Halliburton developed the technique of hydraulic fracturing when Dick Cheney was CEO so the gas companies could get at the gas in the Barnett shale of Texas. Then, under his Darth Vadership as Vice President, Cheney arranged for oil and gas drilling to be exempted from the Clean Air Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. If the gas mining is as safe as the drillers insist, they should need no such exemptions.
To read more about such matters, please see the Gadfly essays “Gas Mining — No Free Lunch” and “Musings On Energy” in this very newspaper.
Peace and parody,
Gadfly