IMAGINE: A Scenic Byway with no frack trucks

How scenic -- and how safe -- is a Scenic Byway with frack trucks? We call for a ban on drilling-related trucks ("frack trucks") on the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway (NY state Rt 97), not merely for safety of the Byway but for safety of the River. Drilling-related truck traffic will ruin the charm of the "scenic" Byway which will in turn hurt the economy of the region close to the River. One of the most beautiful highways in America could become a prized truck route for the shale gas drilling industry and so expose it -- and the Delaware River -- to hundreds of frack trucks a day. See the petition for full discussion -- and sign it: http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions... A ban on frack trucks on the Byway is reasonable and necessary for public safety and River safety, and for the recreational economy of the Byway region. This is made clear in the NY SGEIS (DEC) which shows serious downsides of frack trucks. The draft SGEIS report (Ch 6, p 87) freely admits heavy drilling-related trucks will have significant adverse impacts on public recreation on public lands, "disturbing tranquility," "having significant visual impacts," "raising safety issues" and "significantly degrading the experience of users of these roads." These adverse impacts would just as easily apply to private lands -- such as the Scenic Byway recreational areas between the road and the Delaware River. Thus, given the potential environmental harms to the Delaware River and ruination of viewshed and recreational uses of the roadway itself, a ban on drilling-ralated trucks on the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway makes good sense. Let's do it. Write letters to NY DOT, NY DEC, Delaware River Basin Commission, Gov Cuomo, NY state legislators, members of Congress, and Pres Obama calling for a ban on frack trucks on the Scenic Byway,Rt 97, using petition text as a guide. Video by Dissenta Presents (Jane Prettyman), sponsored by Public Comment (www.pubcomm.blogspot.com) A WORD ABOUT TERMINOLOGY: The generic term "frack trucks" covers all shale gas drilling and production-related trucks including dump trucks (often Mack trucks) working on construction or excavation of gas well pads; water tanker trucks (up to 65 feet long) bringing thousands of gallons of water to each well site for hydraulic fracturing operations; sand trucks for hydraulic fracturing operations; tankers and flatbed trucks carrying hydraulic fracturing chemicals for hydraulic fracturing operations; tankers hauling thousands of gallons of flowback waste (sometimes radioactive) from vertical drilling and hydraulic fracturing operations; as well as other trucks involved in shale gas production such as pipeline and compression station construction. Even if drilling-related trucks do NOT carry deleterious substances, they cause road damage whose repair costs are often not covered by the state or the drilling companies, absorbed by local communities or repairs are never done and asphalt surfaces are ground down to dusty/muddy rutted tracks. Bridges are worn out. The trucks create traffic backups in small towns; they travel in convoys on small roads and highways alike; use scenic byways as truck routes where their size and appearance ruin the viewshed and where their exhaust fumes pollute the air, ruining regional recreational economies. Their piercing diesel brakes (often "Jake brakes") are noisy. Diesel exhaust fumes are laced with carcinogenic benzene and other toxic compounds. Drilling-related trucks are often so wide and massive that average local drivers have difficulty passing them on narrow country roads. Drilling-related trucks often speed. If the drilling-related trucks DO carry toxic materials, they can veer off roads, roll down embankments, break open and release their contents into rivers and streams, ruining drinking water for thousands or even millions (depending on the river). They can spill their contents into fields and wetlands. Their contents are not regularly inspected by public agencies and often they carry no labels showing contents for first responders. They can explode. These are dangerous vehicles and with so much attention (rightly) to environmental contamination, they have fallen under the radar without adequate community preparation (enlightening the public about what's coming) before shale gas drilling is permitted to proceed. So, with all these various types and contents of drilling-relating trucks they are mostly in some way related to hydraulic fracturing and thus are called "frack trucks."