Anti-fracking celebs bring road show to Albany tonight Concert film summons folk tradition to politics

“Dear Governor Cuomo”, a film by Jon Bowermaster documenting the celebrity-lead anti-fracking protest movement in New York state, will debut in Albany tonight, with a screening at the Linda Theater at 7:30 p.m. The film is part of a broader event featuring singer/songwriter Natalie Merchant, Bowermaster, and others who will join a panel discussion with Alan Chartock, journalist, publisher, and CEO of WAMC public radio. 

What impact will this event and the broader efforts of the anti-fracking movement have on New York State fracking policy? In search of answers, I decided to write to the governor myself:

Dear Governor Cuomo:

Do you like Natalie Merchant, The Horse Flies, Joan Osborne, and Mark Ruffalo? Just curious, but your taste in music and film is beside the point. I’m guessing that you, an astute politician, are aware that these and other celebrities who call New York State home have marshaled an impassioned collection of talent and creative energy to urge you to ban hydraulic fracturing and leave the carbon reserves locked in bedrock below the state alone.  You also probably know that the latest centerpiece of this effort is the film “Dear Governor Cuomo”, produced exclusively to get your attention or, perhaps more accurately, to apply popular pressure to leverage the anti-fracking cause.

Members of this delegation will be in Albany tonight to inspire fans with a potent mix of music and visuals condemning shale gas development as a reckless and exploitive endeavor that comes at the expense of public health and the environment.  Albany is one of many stops. After debuting the film at the Woodstock Film Festival in October, director Jon Bowermaster brought his show on the road. He is accompanied by Natalie Merchant and a network of performers, speakers, and scholars who are recruiting and rallying fans to take up the anti-fracking cause in cities throughout New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania and California.   

I have interviewed many of these activists. My impression is that they are ready to sustain their efforts against fracking by showcasing events in New York state and Pennsylvania, the border of which has become the front line of the national conflict over the merits and risks of shale gas development. The musician/activists are following a tradition that has successfully channeled reform through the pull of popular music in generations past: Woody and Arlo Guthrie… Sam Cooke… Pete Seeger...  Graham Nash… Jane Fonda…. The list goes on and on, of course. Celebrities seeking to influence policy ranging from Civil Rights to the Vietnam War to the Labor Movement, to nuclear power regulation have long used the allure of art to shape both social consciousness and conscience.

Your father can relate personal memories of some principal standard bearers of this tradition, I’m sure. Speaking of that, Bowermaster’s film features a clip of Pete Seeger who recalls your father’s legacy and directs some pointed thoughts about fracking your way. You must have seen that …?

My primary question, though, is how much will all this influence the outcome of energy policy in New York state.  You are both the state’s figurehead and most influential administrator, and it starts with your policy directives, which are still incomplete as far as anybody can tell, although its hard to know without a more public accounting of where things stand. How much leverage can the celebrities and the popular opinion they reflect and influence apply to your decision to ban or embrace fracking (which, if we are to believe statements from your administration, is still pending)? How much will your decision be influenced by efforts of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York State and other industry groups and landowner coalitions who champion shale gas development as economic salvation and independence?

Please don’t say that it all depends on science. People are beginning to see through that. Science is being summoned by both sides with little consensus and resolution likely in the near or distant future. So you will be left to make your decision in the realm of politics, with an imperfect and incomplete body of science as your guide. The issues and ethics in play are global, of course. The world is needy for energy – especially wood and coal-burning third world countries trying to clutch freedoms and living standards that we have enjoyed in this country for generations, accompanied and enabled by the indiscriminate burning of carbon.  You lead one of the most energy hungry states in the world sitting over one of the largest carbon reserves. So all eyes are on you for leadership, not just within New York state, but around the world.

Are you still weighing this issue? The price of gas has been low, and the next gubernatorial election has been distant. But you’re now facing a pivotal point.  If you allow permitting before the next election, are you ready to deal with the political repercussions from a sustained movement these activists have promised to lead? Are you ready to accept the prospects of a legacy outlasting the life of the reserve? Will you close exemptions that allow the industry to dispose of waste without a full accounting of its hazards?

If you ban it, will you be able to deliver an energy plan that overcomes the inertia preventing renewable energy and conservation from flourishing? Or will you default to policy tied to coal or nuclear sources, or continue with a disproportionate dependence on unhealthy energy sources from outside of the state and even the country?

These are big questions, and hard to answer with generic statements issued through the various offices of public affairs within your administration, which has become your primary vehicle for communicating fracking matters these days. But I guess we will find out soon enough.

Sincerely

Tom Wilber

Anti-fracking movement gains ground in New York state Both politics, demand for gas will influence drilling outcome

The drilling industry’s efforts to open New York state to shale gas development, stymied from the get go, is meeting even more resistance over time.

Contrary to public statements earlier this year by New York state governor Andrew Cuomo that suggested permitting for shale gas wells is imminent, there are compelling reasons to believe that it will continue to be on hold for the foreseeable future. Most visible among these is an anti-fracking movement that is growing louder and more organized each year. New York, which sits over one of the richest sections of the Marcellus Shale, has become a national showcase for activists trying to stop an on-shore drilling boom targeting shale gas formations in the northeast.

A current example involves a coordinated effort by a group of high profile artists and performers from the Empire State organizing a rally and concert in Albany on May 15. The event – New Yorkers Against Fracking – features Natalie Merchant, Joan Osborne, Mark Ruffalo, Melissa Leo, and others sure to have inspirational appeal to large, mainstream audiences. Merchant, a fracking critic who performed in Binghamton in March, is a primary organizer of the event. She and a coalition of artists who live throughout the state are collaborating “to raise awareness about the potential environmental and health impacts of fracking,” she said. “We are working to create a concert that will inform as well as inspire.” The group has recruited acts from a mix of genres, ranging from Dan Zane, a popular children’s folk artist, to the jazz trio Medeski, Martin and Wood. The rally will also feature speeches and performances by authors, actors, scholars and politicians.

Activists cite unacceptable risks to health and ecology from high volume hydraulic fracturing, used to stimulate gas well production, which is exempt from the federal Safe Drinking Water Act and hazardous waste regulations. The process, known as fracking, injects large volumes of fresh water mixed with chemicals into well bores to fracture bedrock and release gas. Permitting for shale gas development in New York has been on hold since the Marcellus Shale boom began in 2008 as the state revises its policy to account for the environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing through a document called the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS). Finalizing that document has been an uncertain and contentious process, and the activists have essentially used the state’s public review of the issue as a vehicle to highlight the extent of fracking opposition.

“The bottom line is that until the DEC fulfills the onerous requirements … Governor Cuomo will have an extremely hard time adopting a Final SGEIS that permits shale gas fracking in New York,” said Walter Hang, an activist and protest organizer from Ithaca, New York. Hang sent the assessment today as part of a renewed call to action for activists in an email titled “Hallelujah: No Final Fracking Decision Yet.”

Politicians are a sound gauge of public sentiment, especially during an election year. A true test of the anti-fracking movement will be pending legislation in Albany that could derail any attempt by the DEC to begin permitting shale wells anytime soon. Bills in both houses would extend a moratorium to allow the state Department of Health to conduct its own extensive review of the impact of fracking. The bills are supported, among others, by downstate politicians answering to votes of people who get their water from the Delaware River watershed – which happens to extend over a lucrative pay zone of the Marcellus Shale. The Assembly bill was introduced by Robert Sweeney, of Suffolk County, who is chair of the Assembly’s Environmental Conservation Committee. Supporters in the Senate include Republican Greg Ball, whose district includes parts of Dutchess, Putnam, and Westchester counties, and Toney Avella, a Democrat from Queens.

Shale gas supporters in Albany, meanwhile, have been keeping a relatively low public profile on the issue since prospecting has eased in their districts with the falling price of natural gas. Senator Tom Libous, who represents farmers living over a prospective drilling fairway in Broome County, was once an outspoken champion for the drill-here-drill-now contingent during Gov. David Paterson’s administration. Perhaps owing to the low natural gas prices (coupled with the give-and-take of doing business in Albany under Cuomo) Libous now defers to the DEC’s judgment to determine “if and when” drilling should start.

As Gannett’s Albany reporter Jon Campbell reported today, the regular persistence of protesters active in legislative halls and the executive mansion is hard to miss. The pressure has slowed the state’s review or permitting guidelines “to a crawl” Avella told Campbell. “I absolutely think we are winning this battle.” Brad Gill, executive director of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York, agreed that protests have had an impact on the process, which he characterized as “unfortunate for the state of New York and the people.”

The grass roots anti-fracking movement, which in four years has matured into a political force to be reckoned with, is certainly a factor in the outcome for the foreseeable future. Thanks to strong push back from the grass roots activists, the Sierra Club – one of the world’s largest mainstream environmental organizations -- recently switched its position on natural gas. The group that once supported natural gas development as a clean-burning alternative to coal now opposes it as another carbon polluter. (Sierra Club’s announcement today of its “Beyond Natural Gas” campaign was a clear signal from the agency, which has been historically very unclear on its position on fracking.)

Perhaps the biggest influence of all on the future of shale gas development, however, is the low price of natural gas caused by a market glut. Natural gas prices move in cycles. If and when demand again pushes prices up, you can bet you will see renewed political urgency from those representing the industry and people with landholdings who can gain financially from lease agreements. Big money has a way of motivating both politicians and the people who vote for them. When this happens, anti-fracking activists would be well advised to have a feasible plan to push for an energy policy that can economically displace the demand for fossil fuel.