Trout and Tractors This Weekend

Two of the county's big summer events are on tap this weekend. On Saturday, June 12th, the annual Trout Parade steps off down Main Street in Livingston Manor at 1PM, with associated festivities in the Manor from 11 to 3. And on Sunday, June 13th, the annual Tractor Parade comes to Callicoon, rolling down Main Street starting at noon. Kids especially love the Tractor Parade. Come early to the firemans' pancake breakfast at the Callicoon firehouse from 7 to 11AM, or stay later for the chicken barbeque at the Delaware Youth Center. (Don't worry --- just follow the tractors at the end of the parade route.) For those of you who may not be that familiar with Sullivan County, remember that Tractor Parade Callicoon is "Callicoon on the Delaware", at the end of Route 17B, where 17B meets up with Route 97 and not the same as Callicoon Center, which is inland, further north and east.

Comments

[Reg]

Hey Dave, I know this is off topic, but do you have a good list of Sullivan County Farmers Markets, preferably a list that covers the whole county, not just the far northwest corner?

[David Knudsen]

I don't think there is a single list of markets. The 3 organized under the Sullivan County Farmers Market group can be found at http://www.sullivancountyfarmersmarkets.org/. There's a Saturday market in Barryville, organized by the Barryville Green Market. Info at http://www.barryvillefarmersmarket.com/. I don't know if there are any markets in Wurtsboro, Rock Hill, Monticello or in the northeast around Grahamsville. If anyone has knowledge of any other markets, please post.

[Bix]

There's a farm stand in Monticello on East Broadway, I think it may be called the "Monticello Farmer's Market," that has local produce and baked goods and really isn't bad at all.

[Wesley Hopefull]

http://bit.ly/ajL3S3

Want a crystal ball about Sullivan County Dave?

Have your kind readers click the link above.

Tractor and trout parades are only good for a day - they are do relieve the anxiety; however brief.

I too, am looking for the June 2010 data like Slam Busy.

Are you going to do it this month?

Wesly Hopefull

[David Knudsen]

Wesley, I'd encourage you to go take a drive around Bradford County, PA and see it for yourself. I did, this past week. I spent a whole day driving west from Dimock, in Susquehanna county, to New Albany, south of Towanda, in Bradford County. It's not hard to plan a route. The PA DEP has a mapping program at http://www.emappa.dep.state.pa.us/emappa/viewer.htm with every well and drill site marked (when you choose "Oil and Gas Well" under Facilities and zoom in to the township level.) I decided to take a look myself because among my friends, all of whom have strong feelings about gas drilling, and my professional colleagues, NOT ONE had ever visited "Gasland." We're getting our information primarily through the internet, from sites that almost always have a particular viewpoint, pro or con.

I think the article you posted is pretty balanced. What surprised me the most, as I drove around, was that the areas being actively drilled (with the big rigs) actually seemed pretty small. Yes, it is kind of a mess and industrial around an active drill rig. But I drove along a lot of other roads where the drilling had occurred a year or two ago, where there are now just the wells, not the rigs, and they were pretty pastoral and tranquil. I got out of my car to listen from the road at wells and compressor stations, and didn't hear some big roar of engines.

I was kind of expecting some post-Chernobyl apocalyptic landscape, and didn't find it. I also expected to be stuck in long traffic jams of water trucks snaking their way along every inch of country road, but wasn't. No question, Route 6, the main road through the county, is busy. And there is road damage evident on a lot of the back roads going to and from active drill pads. But I probably saw a dozen road crews in my travels doing road repair.

I'm not trying to be an apologist for the gas industry, by any means. And I think the environmental issues need further scrutiny, like the EPA study underway about facking fluids, and the cautions being raised about water extraction for the Delaware River basin.

I, for one, still need to learn a lot more, as do all of us. But I would encourage anyone who's looking to gather information to take a day and make a trip to Bradford County.

[nick]

Drifting into yet another topic a report from the streets.... there was a gang of plumbers yammering away at the schmidts counter this morning and one of them was doing the pipefitting work for the distilling operation at that new place next to bethel woods entrance.

From what I heard they are very close (days/weeks) away from opening. Also interesting was a line to the effect of "honestly I wouldn't just call it a bar, its a big setup, would almost use the word nightclub..."

We shall see...

[Mary Ellen]

David,

I am so glad you took that drive. I'm not crazy about the gas industry, but I have lived around drilling for maybe 10 years. I never see it, hear it, smell it, or see any evidence of it. When I've read these blogs on how gas drilling will kill the Catskills, I think, "Maybe they do it differently there, or more haphazardly?" because where I live, the only thing you might see is an idustrial-looking group of trucks here and there, then they disappear.

I've tried not to sound dismissive or too cavalier when I try to report what happens with drilling, but mostly what happens to the landscape is, well, plenty of nothing.

[David]

Shifting landscapes aside, the action which is of greatest public health concern occurs/originates thousands of feet beneath the earth's surface. While the gas industry would have you believe that the fractures are distanced by a mile of impermeable rock, and that cylindrical cement casings are super-tight and failproo...any truly objective scientist (or logical citizen) can surmise that underground fissures in an explosive environment are not the highly predictable cracks they are made out to be. Newly formed fissures and aquifers can indeed intermingle; proppant chemicals can migrate to the point of least resistance; drinking water and streams are gravely threatened. Period. And we haven't even discussed the million-gallon water quantities that need to be sourced/depleted, used/polluted, and disposed of somehow, in these high-volume horizontal hydrofracking wellpads starting to creep up.

[Mary Ellen]

I would expect that someday, somewhere, there will be an accident with gas drilling, maybe in Sullivan County. But it's a rare occurence, and to toss an inevitably strong economy, jobs, and a secure Sullivan population out the window for fear of an accident, to me, is overly (and foolishly)cautious.

I doubt if New York could afford not to drill, as they sure can't afford to compensate landowners if they stop the drilling.

Well, it can go around and around forever, can't it? Why don't we discuss something easy, like, say, religion?

[rod]

once the hysteria around gas drilling subsides, a lot of people who spent their idle time protesting the casino, then the powerline, then the pipeline then the gas drilling will have some idle and restless moments looking for the next 'horror' to descend on Sullivan Cty.

[nick]

NY wouldn't have to compensate anyone if they banned drilling, any more than they have to compensate me for not being allowed to build an airport on my lawn.

Takings clause of constitution is very narrow anyways, and its not like there were drilling permits already when leases were signed.

As for the cost, one thing I hope we just learned is that costs of drilling can be a wee bit unpredictable. And the cost of fouling the delaware, let alone the NYC water supply, outstrips any ephemeral drilling profits.

[Mary Ellen]

The airport would be something you created.

Gas is something landowners already own, like timber.

If you want some guy leave his timber intact, you compensate with lower taxes.

[keith]

But gas drilling is like an airport in that you're exposing your neighbors to hazards. With gas drilling it's the fracking issue, and with an airport there's increased local pollution and the chance of a plane landing or taking off crashing into a neighbors house. With logging, the dangers are kept within the boundaries of the land owners property. Gas drilling without fracking would be a much fairer comparison to logging with regard to potential negative effects on neighbors.

[Mary Ellen]

Well said.

[Nick]

"The airport would be something you created. Gas is something landowners already own, like timber."

Umm... well not really. You can land a plane on a grass strip of course, really any flat piece of land. That "runway" is already owned, like timber. Landing planes on it though is kind of different.

But assuming we agree with your logic then sure thing. You can take as much gas from your land as you'd like. Using a drill though requires building a structure of some sort at least temporarily. So for those that can frack with their hands the argument holds up. We can make it perfectly legal to mess with the gas under your property as much as you could ever want.

But if you want something you created that wasn't there before -- like a drill -- involved well then that might just need a permit.

[Mary Ellen]

Let's see...I've got a trowel, a shovel, some long nails, a coat hanger, and a wire whisk.

I should hit gas in, oh, a couple of hundred years. (I think I'll need a face lift by then.)

[nick]

Where were you when I was in Attica?