Campbell Public Affairs Institute
On Nov. 30, the Campbell Public Affairs Institute hosted a debate on hydrofracking in the Maxwell Auditorium on the Syracuse University campus.
The proposition that was argued was: “This Assembly Believes Hydrofracking Does More Harm Than Good.”
Watch the archived debate here:
Speaking in favor of the proposition was Paul Gallay, president of Hudson Riverkeeper, and Robert Howarth, the David R. Atkinson professor of Ecology and Environmental Biology at Cornell University.
Speaking against the proposition was Edward Hinchey, professional geologist and independent consultant, and Tim Whitesell, supervisor, Town of Binghamton, and president of New York Association of Towns.
The debate provided opportunities for lively direct exchange among the speakers, as well as questions and brief points from the audience.
Visit EcoWatch’s FRACKING page for more related news on this topic.
From the Fayetteville Shale in Arkansas I must tell you yes it does more harm than good. After being negatively affected in so many ways then only 4 years from their start here in my area they are gone, the mess and empty chemical yards and buildings polluted water wells and land permanently scared is what is left for us to look at and smell forever. Thanks so much for fracking up our beautiful state.
Dirk, I want to thank you for that powerful message. I’m in Central New York, and we’re fighting fracking here as hard as we can. Part of the problem is that the Governor and other decision makers don’t hear stories like yours. They hear – a lot! – from the industry people who are as smooth-talking as the landmen, and the industry pretends like they have all the science and that the fracktivists (against fracking) are just emotional. Being able to light your tap water on fire is quite a visual, but it’s gotten most of the attention, when the truth is much more insidious.
Take good notes. Every detail will be of importance. Thx for letting this know in advance so we can put into our calendars.
HeCitizen’s for a Safe Community Readying to Move Forward Legally, to Ban Fracking in Culver City for all of California: http://t.co/xv8zTN7e
Ban Fracking in California
signon.org
I just signed a petition to The California State House, The California State Senate, Governor Jerry Brown, and The United States House of Representatives: California is already earthquake prone. Fracking will exacerbate the risks of earthquakes as huge hydraulic drills will core deep into the earth,…
llo, Aura Walker started a petition to ban Fracking in California, it has 32,732 signatures and counting, Ban Fracking in the United States and the Eaarth.
S.O.S. HELP Western Pennsylvanias’ potable drinking water system
is being Drained by the Oil Companies.
Regardless of which side of the argument you’re on, it’s bugging me that there are 4 white men involved in this debate. I’m a grassroots fracktivist from Pittsburgh, I personally KNOW women who are extremely well versed on the fracking issue. Some of these women lead grassroots groups, some work for big greens, some are scientists/doctors. Do you mean to tell me they couldn’t find ONE woman to participate in this forum?
Most of the grassroots level ‘grunt’ work is done by female volunteers. They tend to their families/children, their jobs, they go to school, care for elderly parents. And every ‘free’ minute of time they have they use to educate about fracking, to motivate & engage their towns’ residents, to organize and fund raise for rallies, for water for families whose water’s been ruined by fracking, etc.
Thanks Gloria, that is what I’ve seen as well. Not that there aren’t many good men involved, just that fewer women are turned to for engaging debate at this level.
He is lying if he thinks anyone in South Western Pennsylvania or any place in Pennsylvania wants slick water horizontal natural gas fracking. The jobs are temporary and once the lands are raped , the Oklahoma and Texas frackers move on to rape elsewhere. BAN FRACKING NOW !!!!!!!! People are burning hot angry and will not take anymore damage that continues to be done to our air , water and property !!
Ed, we in New York State need to hear from people like you. You know the industry is still going around saying no one’s ever been hurt, blah blah blah. You’re right about the non-disclosure settlements – perhaps the biggest reason why these stories are not being told. The workers doing the drilling and handling of the chemicals must be being harmed horribly, but I’m pretty sure that they too signed things to get the job. Perhaps you could contact one of the NY groups – Frack Action is one, but there are tons you Google.
The movement here in New York State would love to work with people in PA for your state as well.
There are already thousands of people hurt because of fracking and then there are the thousands more who have had to sign legal settlements with the gas frackers who hurt them . Those settlements require that those hurt remain silent . Some are coming out anyway thankfully.
Hydrofracking kills!
we do NOT want this in NY state! and as for some uninformed waitress who wants to sacrifice EVERYONEs health, and says fracking is wonderful because she “gets big tips and can now send her kids to college”: WAKE UP, LADY! we know how toxic this process is and what is in store for us, and we want NO part of it!
Don’t let them rape our land’s any where in America !
Hey , that fella Mo you talk about made it to 88 because he grew up with cleaner air and water. I guess he does not care about his grandchildren and future generations who will be poisoned by the air and water contamination caused by fracking and the earthquake causing injection wells for the massive amounts of toxic radioactive waste water !!!
The argument, we just want money as opposed to we generally want our land fracked is so much like the Eskimo that killed Barry’s wolf in that film Never Cry Wolf. Short term versus long term thinking again………
We should build a solar and wind infra-structure, one that does not depend on fossil fuels. The methane released at the sites during the process is higher in green house gases than coal. Halliburton is shameful and evil.
Right – the methane flaring, loss, and leaking is huge, and it’s true that methane is an even more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2. (It’s just that methane breaks down and there’s a lot more CO2 – but then that methane gets replaced by newer methane.)
Can YOU hear us now, we are fed up with money running this country.
If the science is never settled , then , ” WHEN IN DOUBT DON’T !!!!! “
Slick. The audience member’s intention behind the question was to restore the Clean Air Act regulation of fracking, however the response was “no- I wouldn’t want to go back to using deisel fuel”- as if that would be the consequence. The issue is full disclosure, accountability, regulation with no indemnification.
Hydro-fracking is not an exact science, the natural gas companies do not know what is happening under the ground and cannot guarantee where the toxic chemicals will migrate to.
PEOPLE ARE INDEED GETTING SICK BECAUSE OF FRACKING !!!!!
“These claims have been evaluated by …. ” and there are minimal risks associated with hydraulic fracturing…. This is deliberately misleading. Aside from the frequent industry ties with those “evaluating”, fracking is often defined as the moment the shale is blasted. That one moment, that blast – that is the fracture. Technically, that is true, that is the fracture. And when industry uses that definition, they can get away with saying there have been no risks of contamination / illness, etc, from hydraulic fracturing. When the wide range of effects that happen because of that fracture are taken into account, the inevitable well casing leakages, the air pollution, water pollution, things that cannot be regulated away – there are plenty of risks. And to say that no one has gotten ill? I guess no one has gotten ill from the one moment the shale is blasted, if that is all one considers in the definition of “fracking”. This is the List of the Harmed, people who have gotten ill, and only some among many more across the country – http://pennsylvaniaallianceforcleanwaterandair.wordpress.com/the-list/ Of course, the gas industry will deny each and every one as being related to their activities.
IT is impossible to clean pollution we haven’t invented a way to clean up. We have a hazardous waste storage site in Niagara County waiting for cleanup technology and over growing its site now. We don’t need more dangerous, cancer causing waste to store.
We must stop chemical hydrofracturing of underground shale layers because the planet cannot exist if these hydrocarbons are burned. To save the planet we must use the renewable energy of the sun and its effects on the planet instead. The renewable resource is far more than adequate, we need only capture the easy resources close at hand and use them in the exising grids or delivery systems and locally. We need leaders and methods to cause capitalism to value the planet’s future in today’s economic equation.
Continuing to seek the most expensive and environmentally polluting fossil fuels is NOT logical economics: more costly inputs will lead to higher prices, fewer products sold, and economic collapse. The world must change or surely capitalism will fail.
Conclusion: Ban hydrologic chemical fracturing, under ocean oil drilling, and oil shale production worldwide.
Looks like it is online, but in segments. The youtube segment misses
the first ~20-24 min. To watch all the segments you have to watch all these:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/27394626
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/27394699
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/27394784
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/27394893
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/27394993
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/27395109
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vptvC-ZwxQ
I’m going to try to contact someone at SU in their AV dept. to stitch all
these together, and if they don’t, I will and will post to the
Shaleshock youtube channel…
Even better: here are all the segments on a single web page:
http://williamahuston.blogspot.com/2012/12/howarth-etal-fracking-debate-at.html
Thanks William!