R-Cause Delivers 4000+ Petitions to Maggie Brooks and County Legislators Opposing Fracking Waste in Monroe County, NY
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R-Cause, headed up by Nedra Harvey and Anna Sears, held a press conference at the Monroe County Office Building on Tuesday, October 9, demanding a ban on fracking and all ancillary fracking activities in Monroe County. An issue of great concern is the waste from hydrofracking being brought to Monroe county and its water treatment facitlities. Hydorfracking waste contains many toxic, carcinogen chemicals in additon to radioactive materials. Another issue is the fact that the gas industry refuses to provide a list of all the chemicals used in the fracking process claiming it is protecting trade secrets. the Monroe county water treatment facilities were not designed to designed to treat this type of waste and could risk the health and water safety of the residents.
After the press conference, a group of citizens went over to Maggie Brooks' office to deliver over 4000 letters/petitions demanding a ban on fracking and all ancillary fracking activities. One of the leaders of r-Cause, Anna Sears, politely knocked on the locked glass door. The woman in the office immediately got on the phone and called someone. After hanging up the phone, the woman came over to the door, opened it slightly using her body to block the opening and inquired about the groups purpose. Ms. Sears explained that the group was delivering letters to Maggie Brooks on behalf of many residents of the county, handed the woman them and asked for a receipt. The woman took the bundle of letters, closed and locked the door. She then placed them on the desk and wrote out a reciept. The woman then walked back over to the door, unlocked and opened it slightly and handled Ms. Sears the receipt. One woman in the group commented, "So much for open governement".
Of concern locally is the fact that the Brooks’ administration recently suggested that Monroe County might consider accepting fracking wastes for “treatment”, possibly at our local Van Lare water treatment plant. Monroe County Legislator, Justin Wilcox, has made repeated attempts since March 2012 to obtain information from the Brooks’ administration about its policy, including filing a FOIL request, . He has yet to receive any response formthe administration. “Elected County Legislators should be able to get a simple answer from the administration about an issue as important as this,” Legislator Wilcox said. “It is truly unfortunate that instead of acting in a bipartisan manner, they’ve chosen to stonewall and play games. Democratic members of the legislature are not willing to jeopardize our community’s health and safety for political games; the stakes are just too high. That’s why I’m proud to offer this resolution to prevent fracking wastewater from entering Lake Ontario or any other local waterways.”
Copies of the letters/petitions were also delivered to the Monore county Legislators and about 15 residents spoke at the public forum insupport of a ban.
Video of press conference and group at Maggie Brooks' office
