The Town of Rochester is one of many communities that rest within the Rondout Valley watershed. We as residents are responsible for protecting the watershed, which is necessary for the good health of all people that drink water, bathe in water, cook with water, wash clothes and dishes in water and wish to live in peace and freedom. Does that cover everyone?


The industrial practice of Hydraulic Fracturing threatens to poison the life-blood of our communities in a rushed and desperate attempt to make a profit. We the people of the Town of Rochester have risen to face this challenge and will not shy from our responsibility to ourselves, our children, and our children's children. We will protect our land. We will protect our water. We will banish fracking from our town and our state. We assert our inherent right to govern ourselves and will not be preempted by state or federal laws that pretend to protect, instead inflicting great harm. We assert our right to live and will not be preempted by corporate rights of commerce.


Rochester Defense Against Fracking wants our Town Board to pass an ordinance based on our rights as citizens to prohibit fracking in our town and to choose a sustainable alternative. To learn more about rights-based ordinances, their legality, history and strategic value, please visit CELDF.org (Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund). A copy of our own ordinance can be found here, or on the downloads page.



PETITION DRIVE

We are in the midst of a massive petition drive. We need 2000 people or more in the Town of Rochester to sign our petition so that the town board will ban fracking on the basis of our civil rights. To download a copy of our petition, ready for printing and distribution, click here. Give copies to your friends, canvas your neighborhood, talk to local businesses and ask them to help, etc. There are many effective ways to go. There is also a link to the CELDF newsletter.


If you're not from Rochester and you'd like to get involved and ban fracking in your own municipality, you are not alone. We can and will help you get started, along with CELDF. Our goal is to ban fracking throughout the state of NY while establishing our rights to local governance and inalienable human rights: To live, to be free, to choose a future that suits us.