On Feb. 9, Elmira College’s Environmental Club will host a public discussion on the environmental impacts of oil and gas development.
Area residents and individuals from Elmira College community are invited to attend the event, which will take place at 6 p.m. in the College’s Cowles Hall Chapel. The event offers an opportunity to learn about the importance of citizen science, and about the steps concerned individuals can take to protect the area’s environment – especially creeks and streams, underground aquifers, and water wells.
The event is co-sponsored by the FracTracker Alliance and the New York Water Sentinels. FracTracker Alliance’s mission is to explore data, share perspectives, and map impacts of the oil and gas industry. FracTracker’s Karen Edelstein will lead the discussion.
Although Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s ban on fracking currently blocks high-volume hydraulic fracturing in New York State, there are numerous other environmental risks associated with oil and gas infrastructure build-out that may impact environmental quality in Chemung County and elsewhere in New York’s Southern Tier, according to Edelstein.
According to Edelstein, drilling waste from Pennsylvania, some of it radioactive, continues to arrive on trucks at New York State’s landfills along the Southern Tier. Trains transport crude oil across the state to refineries on the East Coast. Emissions from compressor stations and other fossil fuel infrastructure inside New York, and from drilling sites along state borders, threaten streams and air quality in the state.
New York Water Sentinels, an affiliate of the Sierra Club, will discuss how citizens can volunteer to collect scientific data on stream health near their homes in Chemung and neighboring Counties. The assembled data from hundreds of volunteers will develop a critically needed baseline measure of stream health that can be used to identify sources of pollution.
After the presentations, the groups sponsoring this event will meet briefly to discuss further collaboration among participants.
For more information, contact Jerry Faucher (geraldfaucher2@gmail.com), Erin Riddle (riddleriddle@gmail.com) or Lindsay Cannon (lcannon16@elmira.edu).
