Artists Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon and Mark Ruffalo, alongside longtime experts in the field, held a press conference today on the Upper West Side on Aug. 29 to promote Artists Against Fracking, an activist project with the aim of raising awareness about the ill effects of hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking).

Hydrofracking is a process of extracting gas by blasting a pressurized mixture of water and chemicals underground to crack open rock formations. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is expected to make a decision this week on whether to allow hydrofracking in New York state.

Ono, Lennon and Ruffalo launched Artists Against Fracking with the help of nearly 200 other artists and experts, to warn New Yorkers about their important role in stopping Cuomo from approving hydrofracking in the state. Lennon said he believes the city’s elected officials are “smart and have good intentions,” but hydrofracking is not adequately understood by the public. Furthermore, Ruffalo pointed out, “The world is watching New York.”

The organization hopes people will recognize the negative environmental impact of hydrofracking, the overwhelming opposition in America and the “campaign of misinformation” being spread by gas companies. This campaign aims to convince people fracking is a clean alternative to coal, explained Lennon.

“Bloomberg said it can be regulated to be safe,” Lennon said, “but then why did Dick Cheney exempt fracking from the Clean Air Act? Fracking releases unpronounceable toxic chemicals and carcinogens.”

Cornell engineering professor Anthony Ingraffea, who has studied the industry for 25 years, said the primary concerns with hydrofracking are leaks that contaminate underground drinking water and the escape of methane into the atmosphere. Ingraffea said one in 20 wells invariably fails, producing leaks. “Methane emissions are a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide,” said Ingraffea. “It will exacerbate climate change. It’s a bad time and this is bad technology for it.”

“Science doesn’t have two sides, just one,” said Ono. “All we want is a place we can trust in terms of pureness for ourselves and our children.”

Ono said the hope is the public will visit their organization’s website, become more informed and send letters to Cuomo every day, to remind him that “we are not forgetting.”
“Cuomo is the gatekeeper right now,” Lennon said, explaining that while the decision currently faces New York, “nature does not abide by state lines.”

The group promotes renewable energy as an alternative to hydrofracking. As to the issue that any alternative to hydrofracking, however seemingly innocuous, would still leave a carbon footprint, Ingraffea said: “We’re realists. Nobody controls the price of the sun or wind, and we can harness those for a smaller carbon footprint.”

“You cannot lie about something forever,” said Ruffalo. “A sun spill is just a beautiful day.”

Sean Lennon & Yoko Ono. Photo by Aaron Adler.

By Alissa Fleck

Artists Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon and Mark Ruffalo, alongside longtime experts in the field, held a press conference today in Manhattan to promote “Artists Against Fracking,” an activist project with the aim of raising awareness about the ill effects of hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking).

Hydrofracking is a process of extracting gas by blasting a pressurized mixture of water and chemicals underground to crack open rock formations. Governor Cuomo is expected to make a decision this week on whether to allow hydrofracking in New York State.

Ono, Lennon and Ruffalo launched “Artists Against Fracking,” with the help of nearly 200 other artists and experts, to warn New Yorkers about their important role in stopping Cuomo from approving hydrofracking in the State. Lennon said he believes the City’s elected officials are “smart and have good intentions,” but hydrofracking is not adequately understood by the public. Furthermore, Ruffalo pointed out: “The world is watching New York.”

The organization hopes people will recognize the negative environmental impact of hydrofracking, the overwhelming opposition in America and the “campaign of misinformation” being spread by gas companies. This campaign aims to convince people fracking is a clean alternative to coal, explained Lennon.

“Bloomberg said it can be regulated to be safe,” said Lennon, “but then why did Dick Cheney exempt fracking from the Clean Air Act? Fracking releases unpronounceable toxic chemicals and carcinogens.”

Cornell Engineering Professor Anthony Ingraffea, who has studied the industry for 25 years, said the primary concerns with hydrofracking are leaks which contaminate underground drinking water, and methane bubbling to the surface of the earth. Ingraffea said one in 20 wells invariably fails, producing leaks. “Methane emissions are a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide,” said Ingraffea. “It will exacerbate climate change. It’s a bad time and this is bad technology for it.”

“Science doesn’t have two sides, just one,” said Ono. “All we want is a place we can trust in terms of pureness for ourselves and our children.”

Ono said the hope is the public will visit their organization’s website, become more informed and send letters to Cuomo everyday, to remind him “we are not forgetting.”

“Cuomo is the gatekeeper right now,” said Lennon, explaining, while the decision currently faces New York, “Nature does not abide by state lines.”

The group promotes renewable energy as an alternative to hydrofracking. As to the issue that any alternative to hydrofracking, however seemingly innocuous, would still leave a carbon footprint, Ingraffea said: “We’re realists. Nobody controls the price of the sun or wind and we can harness those for a smaller carbon footprint.”

“You cannot lie about something forever,” said Ruffalo. “A sun spill is just a beautiful day.”

Governon Cuomo. Photo by azipaybarah, via Flickr Creative Commons.

Following the completion of a Department of Environmental Conservation environmental impact study, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is expected to decide this week whether or not to allow natural gas companies to extract gas by hydro-fracking, a drilling technique that blasts a high-pressure mix of water, chemicals and other materials deep underground to crack open rocks.

New York is sharply divided over the issue. Many towns have enacted temporary moratoriums on fracking, while many others have passed resolutions supporting it, the Wall Street Journal reports. Cuomo is anticipated to allow drilling to begin on a limited basis in the latter towns along the Marcellus Shale, a gas-rich underground rock formation in southern New York that extends out to Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.

Proponents of hydro-fracking argue that the technique would help to bolster the state’s economically depressed region by generating tax income for local governments and creating 15,000 of jobs, according to NPR. Pennsylvania, for instance, has experienced a natural gas boom in the past decade by allowing high-volume fracking.

Opponents worry about the practice’s environmental costs. They argue that blasting chemicals deep into the earth threatens small town groundwater supplies. Celebrities including Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney and Alec Baldwin have banned together to fight fracking in the state, and over 1,000 demonstators marched to the Capitol on Monday to make their voices heard.

Check back for updates as Cuomo prepares to announce his decision.

Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

By Alissa Fleck

Pussy Riot supporters worldwide will be disappointed to hear this morning’s news. Just before 8 a.m. EST, David M. Herszenhorn, the New York Times reporter based in Moscow, reported members of Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot were given a guilty verdict on charges of hooliganism for an impromptu anti-Putin concert put on in Cathedral of Christ the Savior in February. They have been in prison, awaiting charges, ever since then.

Pussy Riot, a group which formed in only 2011, regularly stages similar, politically-charged performances in Moscow. The group consists of at least 10 members, who take measures to remain anonymous, including wearing balaclavas along with their brightly-colored dresses and tights. The Times reports Pussy Riot is “far more political than musical” as “[they] have never released a song or an album.”

Barely a fraction of the people in line outside the Ace Hotel in mid-Manhattan last night, a line which wound all the way around the block, made it inside the hotel’s dark basement bar for the protest in solidarity with the group. Similar protests took place worldwide, including outside the courtroom where the women were to be tried. Herszenhorn reported many of these protesters were also arrested.

People of all ages came together in the hotel basement, some wearing balaclavas and “Free Pussy Riot” t-shirts, many more wearing bright, flashy dresses, to join in the protest.

Artists and writers, including Eileen Myles, Chloe Sevigny and K8 Hardy, took to the stage to conduct dramatic readings of correspondences by incarcerated members of Pussy Riot, song lyrics (such as those to “Putin Pissed Himself”), court transcripts and letters from celebrities in support, like Yoko Ono.

The women’s statements were laced with philosophy and political commentary, as well as humor. “We made a prayer in the church with the wrong intonation,” they said, of their 40 second performance, and: “We are not messiahs…but who knows.”

The group also mocked charges against them, including that they “intentionally bought clothes for the occasion,” explaining the dresses, tights and balaclavas were, in fact, their customary garb.

Photo Courtesy of Alissa Fleck

Channing Powell and Ana Veselic said the New York Pussy Riot protest was the first event they had attended in support of the group, and found the turnout interesting. They knew nothing of the group until they stumbled upon the recent controversy in the Times.

“Then I went and read about it in Jezebel,” said Veselic, “I knew they’d have something about it.” The interest grew from there.

“I think we compare them to Western chicks and identify with them, because of their clothes and stuff,” said Veselic. “And we think in America, it would be better. But would it be?”

Powell said she had listened to the group’s music, and while she couldn’t understand it, it had “an interesting aesthetic.”

“They’re obviously intelligent and incredibly eloquent,” she added.

They also made predictions about the trial’s outcome. Veselic thought the women would be released. “I think they’re going down, sadly,” said Powell. “There would be too much embarrassment in releasing them, Putin has an ego.”

As of this morning, the women are still waiting to be sentenced.