Civil Disobedience Training Camp at Keuka Lake, NY to Train Young People in How to Oppose Marcellus Drilling
As MDN has written before, the real, deep-down motivation for those who oppose drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale is not really about chemical contamination of groundwater, noise, roads and the many other (often legitimate) concerns people have with drilling. At it’s core, this is a fight, a battle, about a philosophy. The philosophy driving opposition to drilling says, in essence, that all fossil fuels are bad, and even though natural gas may burn cleaner than coal and oil and produce less carbon, it still must be opposed because it’s not “sustainable” and if natural gas usage increases, it will delay the marvelous future that awaits us all with solar, wind power and other so-called alternative energy sources.
MDN readers are sometimes skeptical when I point out this philosophical motivation. Need more proof? Take a look at an email just received by MDN from an organization in New York called The Green Umbrella about an upcoming event that will train young people in non-violent civil disobedience so they can attempt to stop Marcellus drilling in New York State. The event page, linked to at the bottom of the email, lists Frack Action and Food & Water Watch as co-sponsors of this civil disobedience training event.
It’s going to be a long summer for both those for and against drilling in the Marcellus Shale in New York State. The state DEC released new draft drilling regulations just last week and already there’s plenty of jockeying going on to either support or oppose the new regulations. A public comment period of 60 days (August & September) will be followed by more tweaking of the rules before a final version is approved by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.