Information forum to detail some of the issues of gas drilling in PA

REGION — Damascus Citizens,LLC, with the support of over 1,200 contributors, members and concerned citizens, is working to prevent the effects of gas well drilling in Damascus Township, Sullivan County, N.Y. and the entire Upper Delaware River region. An important public information forum will take place on Saturday, May 3 at the Delaware Youth Center, 8 Creamery Rd., Callicoon, N.Y. at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Call 845-887-5155 for driving directions. This public forum will focus on important new information from around the country and developments regarding the legal efforts of our counsel, Richard Lippes, and Columbia University’s School of Environmental Law to protect our private property and the public health. First-hand video testimonials (filmed this past weekend) of the experiences of people living with gas drilling activity will also be presented. These people state clearly that gas drilling is not a benign activity. They have experienced irreversible damages to their water, land, wildlife, quality of life, human health and property values. Hickory, Pa., outside of Pittsburgh and sitting on the same geologic strata as the Upper Delaware region, dealt with the same gas companies that will potentially drill here. It took only one year for Hickory to be transformed into a beleaguered industrial zone. Overwhelming evidence now exists that the type of gas drilling proposed for our area causes contaminated drinking water, carcinogens in the farmland and food chain, torn-up roads, risk of explosions, toxic air pollution, plummeting real estate values and 24-hour noise pollution. In addition, since 2005 the gas industry is now exempt from The Clean Water Act, The Safe Drinking Water Act, The Clean Air Act, The Superfund Act, The Right-to-Know Act and other important environmental protections. For additional information, visit DamascusCitizens.org. This Web site (which has had over 20,000 unique hits in the first 20 days of April), is provided by DCS Damascus Citizens, LLC, P.O. Box 147, Milanville, PA 18443.