NY Anti-Drilling Groups Launch Campaign to Write 1M Letters

Groups opposed to shale gas drilling have organized to purchase radio advertisements promoting an effort to get residents to write one million letters to Gov. Andrew Cuomo asking him to ban hydraulic fracturing. It’s not entirely clear who is funding the effort.

About two dozen groups are pooling their resources to launch a statewide radio advertising campaign aimed at getting New Yorkers to write to Gov. Andrew Cuomo about their concerns over hydraulic fracturing and the natural-gas industry.

The groups are calling it the “A Million Fracking Letters” campaign, and regional radio spots will air in the Southern Tier, western New York, Albany, the Catskills and the New York City metro area over the next six weeks.

In particular, the groups are fighting back against a series of Exxon Mobil television ads that have aired nationally for the last several weeks (if not months), promoting the benefits of natural gas.

“The gas industry is using the media to tell consumers that fracking is a piece of cake – finally, the answer to all our energy needs,” campaign organizer Doug Wood said in a statement. “But drilling for miles underground, setting off explosives, injecting toxic chemicals and then sucking the hazardous radioactive contaminated waste back to the surface to get the gas is extremely risky business. People have a right to hear the other side of the story.”*

*Rochester Democrat & Chronicle Blog (Oct 26, 2011) – Statewide ad buy kicks off “Million Fracking Letters” campaign