New York’s highest court has ruled towns have the right to ban fracking. The seventy-nine towns with bans in place no longer have to worry about being sued. Town boards that once feared expensive lawsuits are now free to take action—and pro-fracking municipal officials who have used lawsuit concerns as an excuse for inaction now stand exposed. Some towns are already moving to adopt new bans—and you can be sure that citizens all across the state will be showing up at town meetings and demanding protective ordinances.

In its decision, the Court of Appeals found that the state legislature has the right to pass a law that would invalidate local bans, but that seems unlikely in the current political climate. The big question is, what does the ruling mean for towns without bans? Well, that depends on who’s elected governor this fall. There is widespread concern that if Governor Cuomo is reelected he will use the Court of Appeals decision to open New York to fracking while claiming he’s respecting “the will of the people”—communities that want fracking can have it, and communities that don’t can ban it. Zephyr Teachout, who is challenging Cuomo in the Democratic primary, is calling for a statewide ban, as is Green party candidate Howie Hawkins. The Republican candidate, Rob Astorino, has promised to frack New York on his first day in office.

Don’t wait until it’s too late. Demand a statewide ban now, before the elections, while we have maximum political leverage.

RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS DIVEST FROM FOSSIL FUELS

Last week, the World Council of Churches, which represents 345 churches with a total of 590 million members, announced that it would no longer invest in fossil-fuel corporations and urged its member churches to follow suit. This is just the latest sign that faith communities are preparing to play a major role in combating climate change. In recent weeks, the Union Theological Seminary and Philadelphia-area Friends (Quakers) also announced they were shedding fossil-fuel investments.

Faith leaders have also begun to speak out on environmental issues with the same moral fervor that is usually used to address human rights. In April, The Guardian published an op ed by South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu calling for an “apartheid style boycott” of the fossil fuel industry. Tutu wrote “people of conscience need to break their ties with corporations financing the injustice of climate change.” And Pope Francis has also signaled that stewardship of the planet is likely to be one of his signal issues as head of the Roman Catholic Church. Speaking at an Italian university, he termed the ruthless exploitation of the environment “our sin,” and called sustainable development “one of the greatest challenges of our time.”

THE SOLUTIONS GRASSROOTS TOUR
Josh Fox, the Oscar-nominated and Emmy Award-winning director of Gasland and Gasland 2 is back with The Solutions Grassroots Tour, an interactive multimedia event designed to encourage communities to adopt renewable energy strategies. Catskill Citizens is proud to cosponsor the first performance workshop at 3:30 PM on Sunday, July 27th, at the Delaware Youth Center in Callicoon, NY.

A second performance is set for 7:00 PM on Tuesday July 29th at the Hunt Union Ballroom at SUNY Oneonta. A national tour will get underway later his year.

For details and tickets, go to The Solutions Grassroots Tour.

This information gathered and re-posted from Catskill Citizens For Clean Energy. For in-depth and up to date information on Fracking resistance in NY and the Castskills visit them at www.CatskillCitizens.org