Concerned about the implication of hydrofracking, a group in Sharon Springs will be using art to help spread the word Saturday as part of a National Day of Action against the practice.
Hydrofracking uses a variety of chemicals to force cracks in underground rock formations to ease in the extraction of natural gas.
According to Schoharie County Planning & Development, more than half of the leases signed to allow gas exploration are located in Sharon.
That worries Lisa Zaccaglini, who along with her husband, Mike Shuster, is helping to organize Saturday’s event, which will run from 10-2 at the Sharon Springs Farmer’s Market, across from the Roseboro Hotel.
Ms. Zaccaglini said anyone who stops by will be invited to create a small handmade flag expressing their concerns and questions about hydrofracking.
The flags—along with some she and her husband have already created—will be hung from bamboo structures at the market; the flags will remain—and will be added to—after Saturday’s event.
There will also be music and refreshments.
“We want to make this fun and educational,” Ms. Zaccaglini said. “It’s all part of an effort to create more of an awareness of hydrofracking.”
Though hydrofracking is controversial, she said, Saturday’s Day of Action won’t be confrontational; those who have already signed gas leases but who have questions—or who want to share their own thoughts—are also invited to stop by.
“We’re a small community,” Ms. Zaccaglini added. “Sometimes these things work better neighbor-to-neighbor.
“I know there are pro-gas people who stand to make a lot of money. But the rest of us are going to be devastated by drilling. The gas companies look at us as disposable people.”
Ms. Zaccaglini and Mr. Schuster first became concerned about hydrofracking after attending a rally on it in Albany a couple of months ago.
They’ve since established a Facebook page—Sharon Springs Against Hydrofracking--and said what alarms them most is the warnings they’ve gotten from people in communities where fracking has already taken place.
“They’re telling us: ‘Don’t let it happen to you,’” Ms. Zaccaglini said. “We want to heed their warnings.”