Here is a summary of our meeting with the Pelham Conservation Committee last Thursday, March 13. This is not about the pipeline, rather the related issues of fracking and other issues. Dear Neighbor to Neighbor friends and supporters, Last night ten of us were at the meeting of the Pelham Conservation Commission to ask for bylaw changes which would ban fracking and related elements (see text of our request at the end of this email). Abbie Jenks, Michael Hussin and Georganne Greene formally presented our request to Con Com. We felt very positive about the meeting and you can see a write up about it in todays Hampshire Gazette (link was also forwarded by Abbie). Below are a list of highlights and next steps from that meeting: *Con Com members found the presentation clear and helpful. Additionally, Rep. Ellen Story commented favorably on the presentation and voiced her strong support for our efforts. *After some discussion, Con Com members felt that a piecemeal approach toward fracking in Pelham might not be the most effective and suggested that we move toward a town wide ban. *To that end, Con Com Chair Dana MacDonald will convene a meeting on March 27th for further discussion of this issue. He will invite chairs/reps of relevant committees from Pelham, a geologist, Watershed representatives, etc to be present as well as a lobbyist from the gas industry who had already contacted him about this. The public will also be invited as this meeting is an initial opportunity for us to discuss these issues with a broader constituency. The Neighbor to Neighbor group will be prepared to restate its concerns and request to this larger group and will send to representatives prior to the meeting the background studies/articles on fracking that were previously sent to Con Com members. *The hope is that town boards would then sign on as recommending the town wide ban we are now going to propose. *The wording of our request was slightly changed to the form of a town resolution that could be put on the town meeting agenda, ten signatures we gathered and our request was submitted today to put this on the May agenda. *SO, please come to the meeting on , Thursday March 27th if you can. And if you are interested in this, please help us find creative ways to have further conversation with Pelham voters so that we can be ready for taking next steps on this issue. Thanks on behalf of Neighbor to Neighbor, Georganne Greene, Abbie Jenks, Michael Hussin Text of request to Con Com: In order to protect our water resources including drinking water, we ask for bylaw changes which would: prohibit hydraulic fracturing for gas or oil within the town of Pelham, and additionally prohibit the collection, possession, storage, treatment, use, and disposal of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing for gas or oil, wastewater solids, drill cuttings and other by-products from hydraulic fracturing within town limits.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 15:52:52 +0000
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