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PETITION: Support the Student Loan Fairness Act (H.R. 1330)
There are many things in the Student Loan Fairness act (H.R. 1330) that can help students, including capping interest rates at 3.4% based upon discretionary income. Students assert this will help prevent crushing debt that effects people long into middle age. http://bit.ly/15ay2Xy
PETITION: Gas Drilling Industry to Ship Toxic Waste Via Ohio River
Lend your opinion to a petition. Wastewater spills can and do occur on land. But a wastewater spill in the Ohio River would be far more difficult to detect and contain. A major barge accident would force some cities to stop drawing water from the river.Even the barges themselves could become a hazard, as radioactive material from the wastewater accumulates, possibly turning the metal barges themselves radioactive. Sign here: http://bit.ly/Xyoq0F
Keep The Sandy Clean Up Going
Contact Paul at 267.626.7478 or via email at mailto:pdziewisz@gmail.com
News from Elsewhere: http://on.fb.me/Wq4Ur5
Nov. 4th - 7AM - Bux-Mont Hurricane Clean-up Meets at CB West to Volunteer and Work
At 7am at the Central Bucks West High School parking lot located at 202 and Lafayette St.
We need:
1) People to volunteer their time on either Saturday or Sunday or both. Full day and half-day volunteers are needed. We also need people with organization skills.
2) Volunteer your tools. We’ll need wheelbarrows, trash bags, shovels, gloves, chainsaws, ropes, hammers, nails, ladders, etc.
3) Connect us with people you know who need our help. Have them call 267.626.7478 or send us their name, address and contact info. We will work with the folks most in need first.
4) Spread the word on social media asking people to volunteer or to let us know of people in need of help.
Contact Paul at 267.626.7478 or via email at mailto:pdziewisz@gmail.com
Tinicum Residents Find Court Challenge to Airport Expansion to be Futile
The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has denied Tinicum Township’s petition to review the FAA’s approval for the expansion of the Philadelphia Airport. Communities surrounding airports suffer disproportionately from the noise, air quality and other environmental effects created by airports. The residents learned that relief through the courts is nothing more than a delay in the expansion. The airport and the FAA use the time to correct the operation problems identified in the lawsuit without addressing quality of life issues.
Residents speculate that Congress has delegated too much authority to the FAA on environmental issues related to airports. The FAA’s outdated and obsolete standards for community noise compatibility, air quality assessments which omit new findings on turbine produced ultra-fine particulate matter should be subject to review.
Opposition to Flight Training in Washington County
By Miki Barnes
The excessive noise caused by flight training contributes to a state of chronic stress which in turn can trigger negative health consequences including cardiovascular disease, heart failure, high blood pressure, strokes, and immune disorders. Studies have also shown that aviation noise can interfere with learning.
More: http://www.oregonaviationwatch.org/
Lead in Aviation Fuel Poisons Air
By L. Eber
While jets, which comprise the majority of commercial aircraft, don't use leaded fuel, smaller, piston-engine planes use enough leaded aviation fuel (nicknamed "avgas") to account for half of the lead pollution in American skies, making it a real air quality issue. More here: http://bit.ly/K3M8y3
Win Chance for Two to Eat at Six Award Winning Bucks County Area Restaurants
The $10 ticket are available for a drawing that will be held May 19, 2012. The lucky winner will indulge in six dinners offered by highly-rated restaurants: 300 year old Centre Bridge Inn, near the Delaware River, Hotel du Village in New Hope, PA, Maize Restaurant in Perkasie, Via Ponte Ristorante Siciliano in Stockton, NJ, the Plumsteadville In Plumsteadville and Porterhouse Restaurant and Brew Pub in Lahaska.
The Sacred Paths annual drawing supports numerous free and low cost programs offered by the community, including a 12-step program to spirituality, "Breathing Under Water," the weekly Sunday Service, food pantry donations, fundraisers for the ongoing Enrichment Series and music for peace projects.
To purchase tickets for the drawing, contact Beth Ann Rinkus at mailto:dodadance@aol.com
or call 215-598-7560. To join the spiritually-based 10 AM Sunday Service visit the Plumsteadville Grange, 5901 Easton Road (Rte. 611) Plumsteadville, PA. For more information about the 12 Noon Enrichment Series and 12-step "Breathing Under Water" programs contact Natalie Kaye as indicated above.
VIDEO: Not Lovin It - Twitter Fans Revolt Over McDonald's Ad Campaign
The hashtag #McDStories began a week ago with a few tweets from the brand, promoting tales from suppliers. “Meet some of the hard-working people dedicated to providing McDs with quality food every day #McDStories. Then things changed.
People tweets offered up the following: “I haven’t been to McDonald’s in years, because I’d rather eat my own diarrhea,” read one. “One time I walked into McDonald’s and I could smell Type 2 diabetes floating in the air and I threw up,” said another.
Video: http://on.mash.to/ywWFRi
Dimock, PA Families Compromised by Frack Water Contamination Receive EPA Help
Families cheered the arrival of the first turquoise truck stopped in front of the Sautner home with a double blast of its horn before contractors unrolled a hose and started to fill a bulk tank in the yard.
Read more: http://bit.ly/x66vu4
Dimock's Water Emergency - Families Need Help
Eleven families whose wells were poisoned by natural gas drilling, but residents of Carter Road are still without water. Affected families now hope to raise $5,000 to purchase a used water truck. Donations to the water fund can be made via WaterDefense.org. Click here: http://bit.ly/rvX99m
Gas Drilling in NYS Raises Earthquake Concerns
Memories of earthquakes that hit Rochester in in 2001, the largest of which was more powerful than any naturally occurring tremor in New York in a decade.
By Steve Oor
The earthquakes were man-made, New York officials suspected -- the result of test injections of millions of gallons of water into two-mile-deep disposal wells built as part of a natural-gas storage operation being developed in the Town of Avoca.
Nov. 14th 1:30 - Seminar to Support Start Up Green Businesses
By Francine A. Cohen
Monday, November 14th - Turn your energy efficiency dream projects into reality by registering for "Smart, Green and Squeaky Clean, a Philagreen Seminar to boost your business. Topics include "Green Cleaning Made Simple, Effective and Economical", "Enhance the Guest Experience with Evolve Guest Controls" and "Financial Resources to Grow and Green Your Business in Philadelphia".
The City of Philadelphia and its economic development partners can provide a wide variety of assistance to new and growing businesses as well as those investing in energy efficiency measures. This assistance can include tax credits, tax abatements, low-cost and/or subordinate financing for projects, customized assistance through the City's permitting and approvals process, and more. $25 fee for non members. The event will be held at 2028 Fairmont Avenue, Philadelphia. For more information, contact: http://www.philagreenhospitality.com/
PA Bill Requiring I.D. Cards for Voting can Block NonMotorists from Voting
By Allen McQuarrie
http://bit.ly/pvGRln
The bill requiring I.D. cards for all voters, as currently proposed, includes discriminatory restrictions for veterans, students, minorities, the working poor, disabled voters, senior citizens and those with expired licenses. The bill creates difficulties for Department of Social Security and the Department of Motor Vehicles to adjust hours of operation to correct the problem of access for non driving ciizens.
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Laws that suddenly swept across the nation to impede voters - http://bit.ly/q4PfPz
Gov. Corbett Favors I.D. Cards for Voting
Democrats largely oppose the proposal, saying that it would be unnecessarily burdensome, especially for Pennsylvanians who don't have driver's licenses -- mainly seniors, minorities and lower-income citizens. They simply have never obtained a qualified photo-ID document, such as a photo-driver's license or passport, because they have never needed to get one. They ride buses, or they are aged or home-bound, or their old driver's license let them opt out of a photo when they reached the age of 60.
The photo I.D. requirement is an extension of the Republican "Ballot Integrity Program" which had been banned by states for unfairly purging citizen registrations from the voting roles.
Read more here: http://bit.ly/n9gmf5
New York Bill offers $20,000 Subsidy to Foreclosure Buyers
Ackerman calls it the Homestead Act 2, modeled after the original law signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862. That bill awarded Union Army veterans the ability to file an application and claim up to 160 acres of government land. For the next five years, the homesteader was required to improve the land building a home and growing crops. Is PA a candidate for similar bill?
More here: http://www.whatisworking.com/2011/08/new-bill-offers-20000-subsidy-to.html
Solar Energy That Works at Night
By Terrence Aym
"Torresol Energy, a bold joint venture between the Spanish engineering firm SENER and an Abu Dhabu energy company called Masdar has accomplished a feat few in the energy production business thought possible scant years ago: a solar powered facility that generates electricity at night.
Employing a unique solution to the problem that has stymied legions of engineers for decades, the two firms designed a maverick system designed to skirt the problem presented by nighttime." More here: http://bit.ly/kXB7wg
Don't Understand Fracking: Here's a Video Cartoon!
View Video: http://bit.ly/dUzl1R
New York State Will Sue for Frack Study
By Damascus Citizens
New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today
pledged to sue the DRBC and federal government if it doesn't
commit in 30 days to conduct a NEPA Environmental Review
of proposed regulations that would allow gas drilling -
including the potentially harmful "fracking" technique. More:
http://www.damascuscitizens.org/DRBC.html
New York is Already Fracked. Big time
in the Delaware River Basin Watershed Region: Recently Catskill Citizens used the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) to obtain information on a few of these wells. We decided to look at the two dozen that have already been drilled in the Marcellus Shale. What we found was disturbing, and sometimes shocking.
Records show that these Marcellus wells were fracked with dozens of chemicals including carcinogens and neurotoxins. We expected that.
But we also encountered page after page of blacked out information. And while it's hard to know exactly what information is being withheld, it certainly seems to go well beyond the secret chemical ingredients that the frackers claim are "proprietary". Information on chemical transportation and storage was also censored, and sometimes even the DEC forms themselves had been redacted!
While we haven't examined all the records yet, we've already found evidence of numerous violations, including gas leaks and water contamination. http://catskillcitizens.org/
April 14th - FREE - First Annual “Service to Sustainability Awards”
The Cooper Union Institute for Sustainable Design will host the first annual “Service to Sustainability Awards” on Thursday, April 14, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. in The Great Hall at Cooper Union, 7 East 7th Street, New York City.
This event is part the Institute’s continued commitment to sustainability. The Award recognizes the people and organizations who not only share our common goal, but facilitate the adaptation of sustainability in NY, PA, the USA, and within larger global societies. Click here: http://www.water-aid.org/cooper_events.html
Pennsylvania Limits Authority of Oil and Gas Inspectors
by Abrahm Lustgarten
ProPublica
Oil and gas inspectors policing Marcellus Shale development in Pennsylvania will no longer be able to issue violations to the drilling companies they regulate without first getting the approval of top officials.
That’s according to a directive laid out in a series of emails received by the Department of Environmental Protection staff last week and leaked to ProPublica. The emails [1] say [2] the new edict applies only to enforcement actions related to Marcellus Shale drilling and that failure to seek prior approval “will not be acceptable.”
You’re not alone if you are being harassed by debt collectors
The FTC found that the most common complaints involved repeated and continuous phone calls from debt collectors, false claims about the amount and status of the debt, and the failure to provide consumers with legally required notices describing their rights.
Debt collection abuses have gotten worse as more debt is bought and sold and debt buyers have targeted consumers with unfair tactics and an increasing number of lawsuits
Consumers Union needs help to rein in debt collectors with some common sense reforms that protect consumers from being harassed for debt that has been paid off or that they don’t even owe.
Contact: http://www.DefendYourDollars.org
GM to Recall last 2000 of the laid off
By blackwaterdog44@gmail.com
The United Auto Workers union says that by fall, General Motors Co. will recall the last 2,000 of its laid-off workers, clearing the way for new hiring at its U.S. plants.
Most of the recalls will be in southeastern Michigan, whose economy was devastated in the downturn.
GM declined to confirm the timeline, but Joe Ashton, UAW vice president in charge of GM, said Wednesday “those people will all be back at work in September.”
“We will have full employment in September for the first time in a long time,” he said.
Read Here:
http://www.detnews.com/article/20110324/AUTO01/103240394/
State Police investigating arson at Oscar-nominated filmmaker's Wayne County property
By Steve McConnell, Citizens Voice Read Full Article Here:http://bit.ly/f69VuU
A fire that destroyed a mobile home on the property of an Oscar-nominated film director in Wayne County was intentionally lit, state police fire marshal Trooper Russell Andress said Monday.
Josh Fox, who directed and starred in the 2010 documentary "Gasland," about the environmental and public health impact of natural gas drilling, said he discovered the torched mobile home on his family's Milanville property last Friday and immediately reported it to state police.
"I would hope that the matter is resolved and the people (responsible) are brought to justice," Fox, 38, said. "It's part of a pattern of vandalism at my house."
Andress said a probe is under way.
"Right now we're at square one of a criminal investigation," the trooper said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the state police fire marshal unit at 963-4292.
smcconnell@timesshamrock.com
ORDINANCE: Removes legal powers from gas extraction corporations
Ordinance No. 2011-01 was introduced to Council by Mayor Leo Martin for a First Reading of the bill, titled Mountain Lake Park’s Community Protection from Natural Gas Extraction Ordinance, on January 6th of this year, and a public hearing on the measure was held February 3rd.
At the heart of the Ordinance is this statement of law: “It shall be unlawful for any corporation to engage in the extraction of natural gas within the Town of Mountain Lake Park, with the exception of gas wells installed and operating at the time of enactment of this Ordinance.”
The bill also recognizes the right of the people to “a form of governance where they live which recognizes that all power is inherent in the people, that all free governments are founded on the people’s authority and consent, and that corporate entities and their directors and managers shall not enjoy special privileges or powers under the law which make community majorities subordinate to them.”
Following adoption of the ordinance, Mayor Martin commented: "Our town government is responsible for the health, safety, and rights our citizens. When the county, state, and federal governments fail in their duties it is our duty to take action.”
Also included in the ordinance is a local Bill of Rights that asserts legal protections for the right to water; the rights of natural communities and eco-systems; the right to local self-government, and the right of the people to enforce and protect these rights by banning corporate activities that would violate them, through the police powers of their municipal government.
The bill was modeled after the Ordinance adopted on November 16th of last year by the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and drafted by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. “If Pittsburgh can do it, we can do it,” said the Mayor, as he introduced the Ordinance in January, and he indicated that other Maryland municipalities should take a similar stand.
The gas extraction technique known as “fracking” has been cited as a threat to surface and ground water throughout the region, and has been blamed for fatal explosions, the contamination of drinking water, local streams, the air and soil. Collateral damage includes lost property value, ingestion of toxins by livestock, drying up of mortgage loans for prospective home buyers, and threatened loss of organic certification for farmers in the affected communities.
Ben Price, Projects Director for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, applauded the Mayor for taking a stand on behalf of community rights. “The State says Maryland residents don’t have the right to decide whether or not they get fracked and that only the corporate-lobbied members of the legislature have the wisdom to decide how much harm should be legalized through state-issued permits. We don’t have a gas drilling problem. We have a democracy problem. Its symptoms are the State’s refusal to recognize the right to local, community self-government, and the issuance of permits to drilling corporations against the consent of the governed.”
The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, headquartered in Chambersburg, has been working with people in Pennsylvania since 1995 to assert their fundamental rights to democratic local self-governance, and to enact laws which end destructive and rights-denying corporate action aided and abetted by state and federal governments.
CONTACT: Ben Price, (717) 254-3233
benprice@celdf.org
April 16th - 20th Annual International Spring Festival
The International Spring Festival. Education is the key to promoting diversity, there are many learning activities for children, including tasting food, trying on ethnic costumes, and playing with musical instruments from various cultures. Kids also create ethnic art and win prizes for completing the Passport Program, through which they learn facts about many countries.
The festival planning committee, a diverse group of over 30 individuals, is coordinated by Tom Meyer, director of the library, along with Dr. Francis Jeyaraj, a local pediatrician and one of the founders of the International Club. The festival wouldn’t be possible without the contributions of our partners, sponsors, supporters and volunteers. Click here to see celebrations!
http://internationalspringfestival.com/
Hauling and Dumping Frack Fluids; Rolled Off the Road
By Kathie O. Warco, Staff writer
http://www.observer-reporter.com/or/localnews/10-21-2010-fracking-truck-rolls
The driver of a tanker truck hauling liquid used in the Marcellus Shale hydraulic fracturing process was forced off a rural Chartiers Township road Wednesday morning and rolled down an embankment, spilling much of the 5,000 gallons in the tank.
Jaime Long Chimner's Warning About Oil Spill in the Gulf
If you are not starting to think about where you can go out of Florida, the chemicals (which can travel over 30 miles and it goes through concrete, windows, walls) must be affecting you. Florida is is the perfect place for these toxic fumes. They will attack the weakest first. Even the healthiest will not be able to resist the charms of all those chemicals out there in the Gulf. REALLY, I lost everything in Michigan.
They have 1000's of gas and oil wells and constant releases of chemicals especially hydrogren Sulfide (rotten egg smell). A plume of an illegal release due to an accident went downwind over my little tourist town of 2200. The EPA has 3 of my doctors writing that the affects of this industry and specifically hydrogen sulfide, is the cause of my health problems. (I know big deal) I gave up my home and lost my money, family and friends but I would have died had I not left. Now my town is full of sick people and no tourism. I had no money to move with but God provided. BUG OUT, why take the chance?
You are already breathing things you have no idea is out there because some of them have no smell. Please!!!!! Believe me your health will suffer!!!
I live inside my house with all kinds of aircleaners and special respirators to wear outside. Going outside now is a scary thing now.
My immune system was almost wiped out, 4 nasal surgeries, severe asthma, stroke, DO I NEED TO GO ON, DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU, GET OUT OF HARMS WAY WHILE YOU CAN!
Northern Michigan
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