Finding Ulysses

Water flowed into Trumansburg Creek for most of the day today from a big leak just outside the Trumansburg Conservatory of Fine Arts.

Julie and Craig Sautner came up from Pennsylvania to Trumansburg recently to share their personal experience with the consequences of hydrofracturing to drill for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale. Their only source of clean drinking water was contaminated by the process. The following video contains their talk on the subject:

As Mayor of Trumansburg, John White would be in a position to lead the village into providing some of our water to natural gas drilling companies such as the one that holds a lease on his own property. It smells like a serious conflict of interest.

Some deer, and some small critters, seem to come that way, but most of all, the bank above the gorge seems to be visited by dogs with large paws.

Property owners like Doug Austic may see some profit – or they may just see drilling company trucks running roughshod over their land without a penny of income. However, these property owners have neighbors who aren’t choosing to go along with the natural gas drilling plans. Those neighbors most certainly won’t be seeing any profit, but their homes and land will be put at risk.

If Gillibrand continues to ignore the growing concerns of people living atop the Marcellus Shale, she may find herself surprised in 2010 by some upstate resistance to her effort to gain the Democratic Party nomination for New York’s junior U.S. Senate seat.

Congress has begun consideration of legislation to require the disclosure of toxic chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing in the process of drilling for natural gas.

The natural gas under Ulysses isn’t going anywhere. Will residents be willing to wait to sign leases until a new law provides them with more information about the substances that they, and their neighbors, may have to deal with?

What with the hot weather and the fees we now need to pay to get into Taughannock Falls State Park, the Cayuga Lake mood of the day is rather summery.

At 7:00 PM tonight in the Trumansburg Fire Hall, Dr. Stephen Penningroth will be giving a presentation of what we know about the water quality of these creeks. The meeting is sponsored by Back to Democracy.