THE VOTER
LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS
GREELEY/WELD COUNTY
Greeley-Weld League of Women Voters Mini-Voter
January-February 2012
P.O. Box 336634, Greeley, CO 80633
Voter Editors: Hazel Gibson & Kathleen Milligan
League Calendar
Date / Event / Place/TimeJanuary 23, Monday / Colorado Legislative Conference / Denver State Capitol and Central Presbyterian Church, 9 am-2 pm.
February 4, Saturday / Hot Topics Brown Bag Lunch: Voting—Picture ID’s, Mail-in ballots, Registration and voter rolls. Speakers: Steve Moreno, Weld County Clerk and Recorder, Carol Burkhart, Greeley League member, and Carol Tone, Denver League member. / Noon-2 pm, King Soopers, 6922 West 10th Avenue, Community Room.
February 9, Thursday / Fracking: What is all the fuss about? Hazel Gibson and Julie Boyle / First Christian Church, 13th St. & 23rd Avenue, 7-9 pm.
February 25, Saturday / Clean Slate Now: Ken Gordon: Money and Politics, for more information: / All Saints Episcopal Church, 3448 Taft, Loveland, 1 pm, LWV Larimer County sponsor: 970-797-2819
March 1, Thursday / League Board Meeting / Centennial Library, 5:15-7 pm
March 27, Tuesday / League Orientation Meeting: for those interested in learning more about the League / Centennial Library, 3 pm and 5:30 pm
April 21, Saturday / League Annual Meeting / UNC University Center, Columbine Room, 9-Noon
May 11-12 / Colorado State League Council / Pueblo, Colorado
June 8-12 / LWVUS National Convention / Washington, DC
June 22-23 / State Leadership Retreat / Frisco, Colorado
Holiday December Get-together: The League’s annual holiday dinner at Santeramos Restaurant on December 15thwas highlighted by 16 stellar League voices singing Christmas carols led by Janine Reid. Thank you to Barb Whinery, Hazel Gibson, and Julie Haworth for organizing this fun social event.
Hot Topics Brown Bag Lunch: A new idea designed to bring League members and others to League discussions. A Hot Topics lunch is designed to address an issue important to our community. Bring or buy your own lunch at the West 10th King Soopers, Feb. 4th, noon-2 pm. Invite a friend. We will meet in the Community Room. Steve Moreno, Weld County Clerk and Recorder, Carol Burkhart, and Carol Tone, League members from Greeley and Denver, respectively, will talk about voting issues: Voter ID, mail-in ballots, voting rolls, voter registration and process. Come with your lunch and your questions, Feb. 4, West 10th King Soopers, noon to 2 pm. Precinct Caucuses are the Tuesday, Feb. 7th.
Fracking Study: "Fracking: What's all the fuss about?" Feb. 9th 7-8:30 pm meeting at First Christian Churchat 2230 13th St. (23rd and 13th) The League of Women Voters of Coloradois studying Hydrofracturing for Oil, Gas and Methane and its impact on our community and state of Colorado. Wewill hear about drilling rights, owner’s rights, extracting natural gas in Colorado, environmental impact, taxes and economic benefits and detriments. For more information, contact Hazel Gibson. Here is a bit of information about the League fracking study and issues related to fracking. Learn more by coming to the Feb. 9th meeting!
The LWVCO Fracking Study Committee has decided to commit to a state study that is not just a concurrence with full blown state study. The group has highlighted issues that are unique to Colorado − such as water, mineral rights and regulatory agencies. The goal of the Committee is to have local materials available at September’s 2012 League Day allowing locals to schedule appropriately the study and to return consensus questions in 2013. Hazel Gibson and Julie Boyle have been actively participating in the committee telephone conference meetings. Jean Hoffman and Kathleen Milligan have been peripherally involved, watching and listening as they have been able.
What is Fracking? This is a technique (called hydraulic fracturing) for getting oil and gas out of the ground by using a specially blended liquid which is pumped into a well under extreme pressure causing cracks in rock formations underground. These cracks in the rock then allow oil and natural gas to flow, increasing resource production.
From the Montezuma County Voter:
Fracking” Became a Household Word in 2011
From Nation of Change
It wasn’t just that environmental concerns about the underground drilling process finally struck a mainstream chord −− after three years of reporting and more than 125 stories. For the first time, independent scientific investigations linked the drilling technique with water pollution, and a variety of federal and state agencies responded to the growing apprehension about water contamination with more studies and more regulation.
The most important development −− and perhaps a crucial turning point −− was in December. In a landmark finding, the Environmental Protection Agency concluded that hydraulic fracturing was the likely culprit in a spate of groundwater contamination that had forced residents to stop using their water in dozens of homes in central Wyoming. The agency had been investigating since 2008.
Earlier in the year, a study published through the National Academy of Sciences determined that in Pennsylvania, private water wells in close proximity to fracked gas wells were 17 times more likely to be contaminated with methane gas.
Those studies are separate from a national research project the EPA has undertaken to assess the risks fracking poses to water resources. The agency is examining five case studies across the country and is now estimating that some of its report will be complete by the original 2012 deadline and the rest will continue into 2014.
The study is meant to help Congress and regulators determine whether fracking should be regulated like other similar processes under the Safe Drinking Water Act and whether companies that frack should be forced to disclose the details about the chemicals they use.
Help us speak truth to power. Donate what you can afford to support NationofChange. Last winter, the Obama administration −− which has repeatedly referred to natural gas as a bridge fuel and encouraged its development −− urged the Department of Energy to conduct its own assessment of fracking’s safety on a quicker timeline than the EPA.
In a matter of months, a DOE panel determined that the environmental risks were substantial and needed to be addressed in order to safely develop more natural gas resources. The panel raised concerns that pollution could have serious health consequences for those who live close to drilling operations.
Indeed, a report published by ProPublica in September found that residents in drilling areas across the country complained of serious health symptoms ranging from skin lesions to tumors, and that health and science organizations had yet to develop any comprehensive system for studying such problems.
While water pollution is one concern, many of the health effects reported are believed to be related to air pollution and emissions released in the natural gas development and drilling process.
Earlier in the year, a ProPublica investigation found that the EPA had grossly underestimated the amount of methane that seeps out of pipelines and drill rigs as gas is produced, and reported that the agency was doubling its calculations. Our analysis of the new emissions levels showed that they threaten to offset the relative advantages presented by cleaner−burning natural gas over oil and carbon in combating climate change and reducing carbon emissions.
In some cases, government officials didn’t just debate fracking and call for additional study. They enacted real changes in how drilling is overseen.
The EPA announced that the drilling industry would have to comply with tough new industrial emissions standards. Then it said that it would issue new rules governing how wastewater from fracking is disposed of; this addressed concerns first raised by ProPublica in 2009 that in eastern drilling areas, which cannot inject waste into underground wells the way the industry does in the west, chemical−laden waste is winding up in river systems, and then drinking water. In December, Colorado implemented the toughest law yet requiring comprehensive disclosure of frack fluids, following similar but weaker laws in Texas and Wyoming.
This was also the year fracking went global. While France banned fracking outright and South Africa enacted a temporary moratorium, multi−national energy companies began exploring shale reserves in Poland, Argentina and China.
Closer to home, New York state officials continued to inch closer to allowing drilling to take place in the coveted Marcellus Shale. After a multi−year process and its own temporary moratorium on some fracking activity, New York finished up the latest version of its environmental review and has signaled that it intends to begin permitting more drilling early next year.
According to the state’s environmental assessment, no fracking will be allowed on state lands, and the process will be severely limited within the New York City watershed.
Still, the state’s chief environmental regulator, Joe Martens, told ProPublica he is confident the drilling can proceed safely, and that he does not expect there will be much to learn from the EPA’s research into the issue. New York’s draft plan is in its final stage of public review, and is expected to be completed on Jan. 11, 2012.
Join us on February 9 at First Christian Church, 7 pm to learn more…..
Members in Action: Sandy Magnesonis pulling together a history of the Greeley/Weld League from our very scattered but interesting files and walking encyclopedias of League history. We may have a work session soon. Stay tuned and thank you, Sandy! Joan Harrisonhas been diligently writing op ed pieces and letters to the editor for the League. She stays behind the scenes and contributes fine publicity for the League.Thank you, Joan!
Members and Supporters: If you want to continue being a member and you haven’t paid your dues, now is the past-due time!
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Supporters keep the League strong!
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THANK YOU FOR HELPING TO MAKE DEMOCRACY WORK IN GREELEY & WELD COUNTY!
LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS
OF GREELEY/WELD COUNTY
343 50th AVENUE
GREELEY, CO 80634
The LWV, a nonpartisan political organization,
encourages the informed and active participation
in government and influences public policy
through education and advocacy.
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