June 19, 2014

A two-court tango for anti-salt cavern propane storage activist

SCHUYLER COUNTY, New York - Local anti-hydrofracking, anti-propane storage activist Jeremy Alderson of Hector, NY had double court dates Wednesday June 18, the first in the Town of Reading, the second in the Town of Dix.

Reading is where a Houston, Texas-based gas company wants to put in an 88-million gallon propane storage facility, using old salt caverns. It also is using the project as Phase One of a massive industrial complex to serve the propane and natural gas needs of the entire northeastern United States. Gas from hydrofracked gas wells in Pennsylvania is also likely to find its way into the proposed facility before being shipped to export terminals for overseas sales.

Alderson has been arrested twice for protesting at the gates of the Town of Reading Crestwood facility.

Here's a video of the first arrest Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012:



In the Town of Reading trial, and again last night in the Town of Dix, he was unsuccessful in getting the judges to let him use what's called a justification defense. That defense is based on the accused's  belief that there is a clear and present danger.

Both judges disallowed the defense, saying it had nothing to do with his trespassing on property owned by the Crestwood Corporation. Crestwood bought the property, along with U.S. Salt and a development plan from the Inergy Corporation of Missouri. Alderson has argued - unsuccessfully - that it has everything to do with not only his defense, but having the community understand what it will be like if the project is approved.

In addition to additional truck traffic and likely water and air pollution, no safety plan has been draw in the eventuality of any major explosions, fires or spills at the company site.

Here's what Alderson had to say outside of court Wednesday:



And here is a video of Alderson's second arrest, June 28, 2013:





Ten days ago the Schuyler County Legislature narrowly passed a resolution in favor of the project, but only over the objections of nearly 300 local residents who came to a meeting to protest. Representatives of Crestwood and U.S. Salt attended. The pro-project attendees (most of whom worked directly for Crestwood) were provided with company t-shirts if they agreed to speak in favor of the project. Local opponents said only a handful of the 48 people in T-shirts were actually local residents. The rest were bussed in and/or came from out of state.

A request to Crestwood to confirm - or deny - that it provided t-shirts, lodging at the Watkins Glen Harbor Hotel, and food for a cadre of out-of-town, paid supporters was answered by this email from Debbie Hagen, a Crestwood spokesperson:

"We encouraged project supporters to attend Monday’s meeting 
but we have no way of knowing how many supporters 
attended on their own.  
That said, we are grateful for those who attended 
and showed support for the project."


Here's a video of the  Schuyler County Legislature meeting:



In the second court hearing, the judge was briskly efficient, rendering a guilty verdict on the trespassing charge in just under two hours. Repeated objections from defense counsel Jerry Kinchey of Sayre, PA were generally brushed aside quickly. The same thing happened with the contention by Alderson that the entire question of trespassing and property lines has never been established.

The district attorney and Crestwood have never produced legal documents showing property demarcations at either of his trials.

Alderson will go back into the Town of Reading court sometime later this summer. The Town of Dix court however will see Alderson July 9 for sentencing.

In the meantime, local activists opposed to the project are burning up social media with various conversations about issues related to Crestwood's project, other propane and gas-related issues nationally and internationally and continuing a simmering resentment over the Schuyler County Legislature's 5-3 vote to support the project.

The five members of the legislature who voted in favor of the Houston, Texas company's plan even found themselves featured on a wanted poster. From left to right, Stewart Field, Phil Barnes, Dennis Fagan (chair of the legislature) Van Harp and Thomas Gifford.

Barnes is up for re-election in November and will likely run unopposed.






April 7, 2014

A big week for 'The Fracking War' - and it's only Monday

WATKINS GLEN, New York - Just a few days after Adm. Fox and I returned to our upstate NY zip code, our son Dustin Fox put the finishing touches on an author website for me - something that looks more professional than my hacking on websites like these.

He and his friend (professional web designer Kimberly Paternoster) did a very nice job. And they promise there can be more neat things to come. LINK: Michael J. Fitzgerald, Author.

The feature that took a little extra care was an order form so that people could request a book directly from me, avoiding the Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble online stores.

We added it so anyone who wanted to get an inscribed copy of the book can do so. And they can also have it sent directly to someone as a gift, too. (LINK: The Fracking War, inscribed)

More big news came in an hour ago from Sylvia. She arranged it so that Saturday afternoon I will join with other local author types at the Barnes & Noble store in Ithaca, NY to give a brief presentation about my novel and do an honest-to-God bookstore book-signing.


I signed about 25 books at an anti-fracking rally in Sacramento, Calif. then more in Flagstaff at an informal Sunday afternoon gathering at Beth and Mel Tucker's mansion.

But this is a bookstore! And believe me, bookstores are getting quite rare. I know because I'm contacting them to see if they want to carry The Fracking War.

And then there is the Finger Lakes Times, the newspaper for which I write a weekly column titled Write On. (LINK: Write On, Finger Lakes Times)

Executive Editor Mike Cutillo told me today that the newspaper is planning on publishing a story about the book coming out in print, wants to do a video interview with me for the newspaper's website - and also will proudly display The Fracking War on sale in the newspaper's lobby.

Sounds like the war is on!



March 3, 2014

The Fracking War is out in print - and some life updates

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Since sometime in December, my brain has been totally focused on getting The Fracking War novel out the door.

Thus, no blogs. None, nada, zip, zilch, zero...

But now the book has gone out the door, and is back in, this time as a published paperback novel, with its own Library of Congress designation and everything. Imagine, a book with my name on it in the Library of Congress.

Of course, my name is likely already all over all kinds of NSA documents but that's another issue.

Admiral Fox and I returned from Mexico just a few days ago where we had our usual adventurous moments both in Nuevo Vallarta and Arroyo Seco.

This season, however, for the first time in at least four or five years, I caught a cold. Not just a booger-filled, sneezing, I feel-like-crap cold. No, this was a headbanger with a fever, enough deep-lung coughing for a roomful of cigarette smokers and such low energy I could barely walk up and down the stairs of our condo at Bahia del Sol.

It only lasted about a month, though.

A month. Kee-rist!

All that is just so much water in the sand though as Adm. Fox and I get ready to catch 400 copies of The Fracking War this week, coming via UPS. More than 100 books are destined to be mailed to Kickstar.com supporters. Some will be sold at a March 15 anti-fracking demonstration at the state capitol here. Others will go to various potential reviewers locally.

And on our driving trip back to the east coast, we will be stopping in towns to chat with newspaper editors and radio stations to see if they have any interest in the book.

The book popped up for sale on Amazon.com Sunday night, 48 hours after I gave the nod for Mill City Press of Minneapolis to fire up the machine and start cranking out copies of The Fracking War. Barnes & Noble shows the book for sale now, too.

Can a call from The Daily Show be far behind?

In the meantime, we continue watch the weather in Northeast carefully, comparing it to our Sacramento experiences. Seems like heading east too early means a repeat of some of the foul weather we traveled in getting west in December.

Admiral Fox does have her snow boots with her, but says if she has to don them, there will be trouble.

I believe her.