Rally

Oil companies in New York City are planning on drilling for gas near an upstate watershed in New York City. The shed is the source of New York City’s unfiltered drinking water. In response, New York City’s financial district will be the host of the “ Kill the Drill” campaign in an effort to halt the companies from potentially ruining the water source. The protest will be held Nov. 10.

Apparently, Chesapeake Energy Corporation Oil decided on October 27th not to do any drilling on the watershed but other oil companies are still free to drill if they wish.

The gas is trapped in shale rock and extracting it would require certain chemicals to be shot in. Possibly, those chemicals could seep into the water.

“We are very concerned about the whole chemical process, and while it would help for drilling it would be extremely worse off for us,” said Michael Levin, Director of Land use and planning at Community Board 1.

The rally will be held at 5 p.m. outside Stuyvesant High School, 345 Chambers Street, between the West Side Highway and Hudson River Park. Levin explained that the financial district is a main area of concern due to the amount of restaurants that rely on clean water to make food.

An E-mail from the Manhattan board president was sent to community boards all over Manhattan, urging board members to let out the word to as many people as possible about the rally. “This is an issue of grave concern,” read the e-mail. “At stake is the quality of the water we drink, our public health, and billions of taxpayer dollars that would be needed to build and operate a filtration system if this decision is mishandled.”

According to an editorial from the New York Times, New York State officials said the drilling would help New York’s economic woes. The city has insisted that the rules are strict enough to prevent chemical accidents.