After hearing about fracking from their neighbors to the south, Tioga County residents became alarmed. In January 2012 they formed RAFT, Residents Against Fracking Tioga, to ensure they would not meet the same fate. Pennsylvanians had been caught unaware by the powerful unconventional drilling industry, which had for years been quietly setting the stage to bulldoze its way through the state.
Southern Tier residents had visited frack sites; seen the huge increase in traffic, road damage, out-of-state workers and crime; witnessed families and friendships being fractured; and pored over environmental, medical and economic studies.
The all-volunteer members of RAFT realized they needed to bar this new and rapidly expanding industry from their communities. They found ways to fight back against the misinformation being spread by the corporations and their local government and community accomplices.
RAFT sponsored or cosponsored nearly two-dozen public educational events – mostly in Owego, Spencer, Vestal and Candor. Among the guest speakers were Pennsylvania farmers and homeowners, a financial analyst, an oil and gas industry consultant, attorneys, renewable energy experts, climate mitigation experts, and leaders of a group that helps those who’d leased before they knew anything more than what the industry told them.
Although Gov. Cuomo now appears to be about to announce a “ban” on fracking, pipelines and accompanying compressor stations are being built across the Southern Tier and all around the state. Water is being removed from New York aquifers and streams for use in Pennsylvania fracking. Silica, cause of the deadly and incurable disease silicosis, is transported through New York on its way to Pennsylvania frack sites. Explosive gas is being stored in salt caverns along pristine Seneca Lake. Toxic brine is being spread on New York State roads. New York municipal landfills — including three in the Southern Tier — are accepting radioactive frack waste. And export terminals are planned downstate to take all this fracked gas to foreign markets.
“Despite the so-called ‘ban,’ fracking is still a big threat,” said Maura Stephens, a founding member of RAFT. “Fossil fuel infrastructure is going in all around New York State.”
Expanded Mission
These are symptoms of bigger problems, pointed out the Spencer resident. “RAFT is addressing those at the same time we’re strategically building long-term resiliency in our communities,” Stephens said. “Our new name, Residents Allied for the Future of Tioga, reflects our broader mission as well as the love we share for our county and region.”
The new RAFT will devote some time to fighting these encroaching harms, but it will build on earlier initiatives devoted to bringing energy conservation programs and renewable energy conversions — initially solar and heat exchange — to businesses and homes in the county, and to press for enhanced local, state, and federal governmental incentives.
“It has been shown,” explained Gerri Wiley of Owego, another RAFT cofounder, “that we can completely eliminate the need for fossil fuels. There is no reason to continue on this dangerous path. People are making the connections between methane and climate disruption. Not to mention all the pipeline and fuel-train explosions — there were five in January alone.”
RAFT will also work with local partners to strengthen the local economy, promote local organic farming and food security, and mitigate results of future catastrophic climate-related weather events such as the 2006 and 2011 floods. The group meets monthly and welcomes inquiries from people who would like to participate.
RAFT’s next public forum, titled, “Taking Control of Our Energy Future while Saving Big Bucks,” will be held on Wednesday, May 13, 7 p.m. at the Tioga County Office Building, 56 Main St., Owego.
For more information call (607) 342-3159, or visit RAFT on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RAFTny.
