Ban Fracking in NY: A Statewide Conference

Binghamton, NY; April 16, 2011

The Ban Fracking in NY conference drew activists from throughout NY State and elsewhere for a day-long exposition of strategies and sharing of energies. The focus was squarely on rejecting half measures, and insisting that the goal of anti-frackers should be a complete and total ban on fracking in NY State.

Sponsor: CDOG

In Part One:

Carl Arnold: Opening Remarks

Attorney Mary Jo Long: What Are Lawyers For?

Ben Price: We Don't Have a Fracking Problem, We Have a Democracy Problem

Related Link: CELDF

Rachel Treichler: Water Law

With an afterward by Jack Ossont of The Committee to Preserve the Finger Lakes and The Coalition to Protect New York.

Attorney Mary Jo Long: Powers of Local Governments & the "Takings" Threat

See the Google Doc: Ban Actions and the "Takings" Bogeyman

Mike Bernhard and Ben Price make short presentations on the inherent dangers of regulationism, and specifically the danger of expecting one or more governmental agencies to protect us from the the adverse effects of fracking.

---------------------------------------

In Part Two:

Adrian Kuzminski of Sustainable Otsego, and Carl Arnold of CDOG: Statewide Ban: Legislative & Executive Action.

Adrian Kuzminski of Sustainable Otsego, and Ben Price of CELDF: One Ban at a Time? - Counties, Towns, Villages.

Howie Hawkins: Public Power - Why Philly Could Choose

See video of Jannette Barth's presentation: Gas Drilling - The Economic Impact on Communities.

Read her Google Doc on the same subject.

Related Link: American Public Power Association

Kevin Bunger: Organizing Faith Groups

Related Link: Coalition to Protect New York

Larry Bennett of Ommegang Brewery, and Art Hunt of Hunt Country Vineyards discuss Organizing Businesses.

Mike Bernhard: Outreach to Leaseholders & Prospective Leaseholders

Laura Sheinkopf, LuAnne Kozma, & Sherry Fleming: Interstate, Inter-Issue, Upstate/Downstate Organizing

Related Links: Neogap; Safe Water Movement

-----------------------------------------------

In Part Three:

Rachel Treichler: Electoral Action - Navigating NYS Election Law

Ken Jaffe: Electoral Action - Independent Campaigns

Gloria Mattera: Electoral Action - Party Campaigns

Laurie Spaeth: Reframing

Lindsay Speer: Using Twitter

Outreach - Organizing Resistance

Michael Dineen: Petition Drives

With further outreach commentary by Jan Quarles, Art Hunt, Julie Huntsman, Jack Ossont, and

Keywords: Marcellus Shale Gas Drilling

Cornell 2011 Energy Conference: Keynote Address

 

 

Introduction by Ben Tettlebaum, Environmental Law Society President

 

Keynote Address by Susan Christopherson, J. Thomas Clark Professor, City & Regional Planning

Keywords: Marcellus Shale Gas Drilling

 

Cornell 2011 Energy Conference: Energy Security, Sustainability & Environmental Law

 

Cornell 2011 Energy Conference

Achieving energy independence is a primary goal at all levels of government. But the meaning of energy independence and what that independence looks like vary widely. The United States is clearly in need of a national energy policy that also promotes sustainability. For natural gas to capture more of the market, our energy infrastructure would require change. A distributed energy system with a focus on renewable energy at the local level poses an alternative to fossil fuels. Would the de-centralization of energy production provide greater security? How could the various options map onto plans for a smart grid? And how do existing federal environmental laws play into the quest for sustainability? This opening panel will explore these questions and the critical role that the law must take in attaining energy security that is also sustainable.

Moderator

Mark Milstein, Director of the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise & Senior Lecturer of Management and Organizations, Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University

Panelists

Richard Allmendinger, Associate Dean of the College of Engineering & Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University

William Boyd, Associate Professor of Law, University of Colorado at Boulder; Fellow, Renewable And Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI)

Jeffrey Bossert Clark, Partner, Kirkland & Ellis, LLP; former Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Environment and Natural Resources Division at the Department of Justice

Wesley D. Sine, J. Thomas Clark Professor in Entrepreneurship and Personal Enterprise & Associate Professor of Management and Organizations, Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University

Jefferson W. Tester, David Croll Professor of Sustainable Energy Systems, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Director of the Energy Initiative, College of Engineering; Associate Director, Energy Programs, David R. Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, Cornell University

Keywords: Marcellus Shale Gas Drilling

Left Forum 2011 - The Tea Party and the Media

 

Left Forum 2011
Pace University, NYC
March 18-20, 2011

What is the "Tea Party," and how and why did this movement exercise so much leverage in the 2010 midterm elections? What role did the media play in the movement's rise and electoral success? And how can leftists and progressives use their own media to counteract the propaganda that has fueled right-wing mobilization for decades?

* Adele Stan - Washington Bureau Chief, Alternet
* Frances Fox Piven - CUNY Graduate Center
* Glen Ford - Black Agenda Report
* Laura Flanders - GritTV
* Richard Kim - The Nation

Left Forum 2011 - The Wisconsin Uprising & Beyond

 

Pace University, NYC
March 18-20, 2011

A discussion from Wisconsin natives and leaders as well as national progressives about the amazing uprising in Madison, WI and what it means for the progressive movement.

* Austin King - SEIU
* Ben Manski - Liberty Tree
* Elizabeth Wrigley - Field—Teaching Assistant Association, International Socialist Organization
* John Nichols - The Nation
* Monica Adams - Freedom Inc.
* Sarah Manski - Journalist, CEO of PosiPair.com, Wisconsin Wave organizer