Sign Letter-Keep Our Food Frack-Free-NFMMDP - Citizens for a Healthy Community

Please check the box below if you agree to the following letter. A check in the box is required in order to submit the form to the BLM and USFS, with a copy to Delta County. *

Dear Mr. Crockett and Ms. Mortensen,

I am writing to you today because the delicious, nutritious food products grown in the unique North Fork Valley of the Gunnison River are being threatened by the proposed 35-Well Natural Gas project, called the North Fork Mancos Master Development Plan (NFMMDP).

The NFMMDP proposes to build and operate 35 natural gas wells (utilizing horizontal drilling/fracking), with accompanying industrial facilities at the intersection of three critical watersheds that irrigate the fields, orchards, vineyards and farms downstream. Not to mention the projected 1700 roundtrip truck trips on the two-lane highway along Paonia Reservoir. Any spill, leak, or accident will likely contaminate the irrigation water, destroying not only the crops for one harvest season, but for future generations to come.

This oil and gas development project is not a question of whether operators can extract natural gas responsibly. Accidents, spills, and leaks happen. It is a question of whether natural gas extraction is worth the risk of destroying the prime and unique agricultural lands currently untouched by oil and gas development, which produce the state’s most abundant supply of organic fruit, vegetables, wine, and beef.

Our health is not worth the risk. Our foodsheds are not worth the risk. Our food security and independence are not worth the risk. Turning a watershed that irrigates these farms, orchards and vineyards into an industrial zone that releases chemicals that cause cancer, immune and endocrine system disease, and respiratory and cardio-vascular disease is beyond wrong.

How can we be assured that this foodshed will not be irreparably harmed, and our health not negatively impacted, when local, state and federal laws and operators can’t provide that assurance? Rural gas gathering pipelines are exempt from federal pipeline safety regulations, and oil and gas operations are exempt from certain provisions of several environmental laws designed to protect public health and safety, including the Safe Water Drinking Act, The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, The Clean Water Act, The Clean Air Act, and The Comprehensive Environmental Response, and the Compensation, and Liability Act. We are long past the time when communities continue to absorb the damages caused by such industrial operations—it is their cost of doing business, not ours.

Please reflect on this, and consider this seriously when developing an Environmental Impact Statement to keep this watershed safe and our food frack-free. I respectfully request a full Environmental Impact Statement instead of the currently proposed Environmental Assessment to assess the complexity and long-term implications of this project.

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SIGN THIS LETTER TO KEEP OUR FOOD FRACK-FREE

Your Voice Is Needed To Tell BLM And The USFS That Natural Gas Extraction Is Not Worth The Risk of Destroying The North Fork Valley Foodshed.

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