For Roe v. Wade Supporters, Silence is No Longer a Choice
By Rep. Carolyn Maloney
Last Sunday, we marked the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that guarantees a woman’s right to choose. Reproductive freedom is at greater risk now than at any time since Roe was handed down in 1973, and family planning is under attack. Women can no longer afford to be silent. Read more
With PCBs, Kids Can’t Wait 10 Years
The city adminstration is aware that nearly 800 public schools in all five boroughs contain lighting ballasts that leak polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which pose serious threats to the health and safety of our children, teachers and staff. Despite the magnitude of the threat and the simple solution available, however, the best response the city can muster is a 10-year plan focusing on meeting legally mandated energy efficiency upgrades, with the peripheral effect of gradually replacing these toxic lighting ballasts. Read more
The Dangers of Hydrofracking
Gas extraction process presents hazard to New Yorkers health
There are many disturbing facts about the drilling practice known as hydraulic fracturing, or “hydrofracking,” all of which point to one clear overarching message: Hydrofracking is simply too dangerous to allow in New York.
In my work as a member of the New York State Assembly Committee on Environmental Conservation and a long-time advocate for our environment, I’ve met with advocates, attended hearings, corresponded with regulatory agencies and two governors and questioned the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and the natural gas industry regarding the environmental damage and health impacts of hydrofracking found in other states and nations.
In all of the information I’ve received over the years that hydraulic fracturing has been studied and disputed, scientists, legislators and state agencies have found neither proof nor assurance that hydrofracking can be done properly without harm to citizens of New York, our environment and our health.
To obtain natural gas contained in shale rock deep below the earth’s surface, the hydrofracking process uses millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals—many of them toxic or carcinogenic—to blast open the rock and bring the natural gas-hydrofracking fluid combination to the surface. However, a large percentage of this noxious mixture—some reports have said a large majority—remains underground, possibly migrating into nearby water supplies. The fluid that does come to the surface is toxic waste, and there currently exists no method to properly deal with this liquid.
The clearest evidence of this danger came to light very recently. Dec. 8 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a targeted study that stated there is a likely link between contamination of water supplies and nearby hydrofracking activity in Wyoming. This is the first time this connection has been made so directly, but I have no doubt it will not be the last. In an earlier letter to Gov. Cuomo on Nov. 7, I called on the governor to halt the DEC permit process in New York until the EPA had finished its comprehensive study examining the process. I believe the recent development underlines the importance of this study.
The dangers of hydrofracking are indeed grave: compromised water and land, decreased property values, industrial pollution, increased seismic activity and a deterioration of residents’ health due in part to increased levels of known carcinogens.
If hydraulic fracturing is allowed to occur in New York State, it will affect all of us. This issue is not one that is limited to the major cities, which get their fresh water from upstate aquifers, and it is certainly not limited to more rural areas where the drilling will take place. These citizens will face long-lasting damage to their land, their water sources and the industries that support their livelihoods, not to mention their personal health.
This is an issue that all New Yorkers must be concerned about, for our health, our state and future generations. I will continue to fight against hydrofracking as I have in past years to protect our great state from this potentially devastating practice. I encourage all others in our community to do the same.
Daniel O’Donnell is the assembly member for the 69th District, which includes parts of the Upper West Side, Manhattan Valley and Morningside Heights.
Throw Your Body Upon the Gears
OWS lifted veil on shamefully neglected crisis
By Jon Reiner
Lorraine Duffy Merkl makes the cardinal sin—wrath, in this case—of condemning the Occupy Wall Street presence in Zuccotti Park (and by implication the hundreds of Occupy sites that materialized across the country) without having set foot in the place (“An Open Letter to OWS,” Nov. 23, 2011). One visit may have led her to a different judgment. It may have even inspired her to join the movement. Read more
Clarence Kept Me Young
I met the ‘Big Man’ at a now gone UWS spot
I suppose everyone has a moment when they know the days of their youth are over.
Graduating college. Getting that first job. Marrying the girl. Having that first kid. Tearing an Achilles. Being checked out by the mom, not the daughter. Squinting at the menu because it’s too dark. Waking to pee twice every night.
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Hell’s Kitchen Salutes the Seasons
As neighborhoods go, Hell’s Kitchen, where I’ve lived since the ’90s, is the poster child for urban grit. The setting for some of the great noir films of the 1940s, it was once the turf of the Westies, a notorious Irish gang. The Capeman Murders happened in a nearby schoolyard. Last fall, in a club across from an Eighth Avenue restaurant where I regularly eat, a man murdered a woman because she wouldn’t dance with him.
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The Big Lies About the Budget
“A kiss is still a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh…” and a bald-faced, spit-in-your-face lie is still what it is. It is not raining and Republicans have been expectorating in our kissers for years about more than a few things, the latest of which are the “true” causes of our recession and what needs to be done about them.
More Women Need to Run for Office
By Julie Menin
As I watched the saga enveloping Congressman Anthony Weiner, and the ones surrounding Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, there is a frequent chorus I hear from women: Where are the women on this list?
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Finding Shelter From the Storm
Temporary shelter for homeless is useful, but permanent housing is needed
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the David B. Skinner Shelter at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. It is a milestone we plan to recognize this fall, honoring the volunteers who host 12 homeless men every night and keep the shelter running 365 days a year.
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Stamping Out Lung Cancer
I am sick of lung cancer.
It killed my wife Cynthia. It killed two of my cousins. It killed several friends. The leading cause of cancer death among women today is not breast cancer. It is lung cancer. The leading cause of cancer death among men today is not prostate cancer. It is lung cancer. Many of these victims are in their twenties and thirties. Too many are veterans and minorities. Each year, more people die from lung cancer than breast, prostate, colon and pancreatic cancers combined. Thirty years ago, the five-year survival rate for lung cancer was 15 percent. Today, the five-year survival rate for lung cancer is 15 percent. It is rarely caught early, so treatment is usually futile and costly: the money goes mainly toward palliation and end-of-life care.
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