It was billed as the “People’s Public Hearing on Fracking”, an all-day event at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center in Buffalo. Social media posts explained it was a “hearing” because the Buffalo area wasn’t a site for the DEC’s hearings on the SGEIS last fall. This gathering would give the people of western New York a chance to have their voices heard – an opportunity that was denied the organizers claim. The day would include speakers, music and information tables from the Sierra Club. The event boasted its own website, http://www.peopleshearing.com. There was even a fundraiser held in a local restaurant a few weeks prior, to help defray expenses.

At first blush, there are several flaws in this creative attempt at synergy, learning and community. First and foremost, Buffalo doesn’t sit over the Marcellus Shale. Secondly, Buffalo’s Common Council, in a symbolic gesture, banned hydraulic fracturing in the city a while ago. Why create fuss and bother in a place where drilling wouldn’t have happened and by law now can’t happen?

http://eidmarcellus.org/marcellus-shale/peoples-hearing-in-buffalo-...