Details: Gas Drilling Forum, Oh Catskills and Your Marcellus Shale, 7.25.08

Marcellus Shale! These two words fill me with dread now. The energy companies and their land men are infiltrating my neighborhood and I'm very upset. It's like an army is approaching and we're the target. I was raised (on my Texan side) with the romantic notion of "finding oil"; laughing at The Beverly Hillbillies, Dynasty and so on, not understanding the true cost of any energy extraction. The "American Dream" of striking gold, of hitting oil on your land and of getting rich overnight still frames our desires. The land grab, gas play, and drilling speculation are on in the Catskills and it ain't pretty. Catskills residents share their fear, their concern and their frustration at being faced with a sense of inevitability about the presence of gas wells. The energy companies will do whatever it takes to profit so it's up to us to protect our land, and thereby our future. I brought Trailer Talk to the gas drilling forum at the Liberty High School in Liberty, NY which was co-sponsored by Catskill Mountainkeeper and the Sullivan County Division of Planning and Environmental Management where people joined me at the kitchen table for hours. What are the impacts? Pictured here are Ramsay Adams, the Executive Director of Catskill Mountainkeeper and Chris White, the Representative for Congressman Maurice Hinchey. Thank you all as we continue fighting to protect these precious mountains and our quality of life. We need to stick together and not allow the energy companies to divide us.

26-07-2008 (25.42 MB)
Download Gas Drilling Forum, Oh Catskills and Your Marcellus Shale, 7.25.08 - Duration: 29:27

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