“Fermi Faces Fracking,” presentation by Don Siegel, Professor of Earth Science at Syracuse University, Tuesday, November 16th, 7:00 pm

Delavan Center, 501 W. Fayette St., Syracuse, NY 13204

* Please note date and location change *

Opponents of natural gas development argue that surface water and groundwater supplies of upstate New York will be systemically compromised by the extraction of deep natural gas by using an engineering procedure called hydraulic fracking. Even back of the envelope calculations, “Fermi Solutions”, show these assertions false from first principles of water chemistry and hydrology.

Don Siegel, Ph.D., is Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Teaching Professor of Earth Sciences at Syracuse University. He is a Birdsall Distinguished Lecturer for the Geological Society of America (GSA), and a winner of GSA’s Meinzer Award for Research Contributions in Hydrogeology. He has served on numerous National Research Council panels on water issues and now chairs the National Water Science and Technology Board. Professor Siegel has published over 125 peer reviewed papers and books on water topics, and has provided expertise to multiple governmental agencies, corporations, and the legal profession on a broad range of environmental issues.

“Taxes, Not What You Think,” presentation by Pulitzer Prize winning author David Cay Johnston, October 20, 2010, 7:30 PM

Betts Branch Library, 4862 S. Salina St., Syracuse, NY 13205

Across the political spectrum people fervently hold many views on taxes, but few of them understand the principles underlying taxes and their role in this, the second American Republic, including who bears the burdens of paying the price of civilization.

Born in San Francisco in 1948, David Cay Johnston began his journalism career in 1968 by talking his way into becoming the youngest reporter at the San Jose Mercury and News, where he covered local governments, student radicals, and land use. After a three-year stint as an investigative reporter with the Detroit Free Press, Johnston spent twelve years with the Los Angeles Times reporting national news, entertainment news, the Los Angeles Police Department and sundry other topics. Beginning in 1988, he reported on the casino industry for the Philadelphia Enquirer and briefly served as assistant business editor before joining the New York Times to cover taxes, tax evasion, and the Internal Revenue Service.

Johnston won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting “for his penetrating and enterprising reporting that exposed loopholes and inequities in the U.S. tax code, which was instrumental in bringing about reforms.” He had previously been nominated in 2000 and in 2003 was again nominated both for Beat Reporting and National Reporting. That year, he also received recognition by Investigative Reporters and Editors with a Book of The Year award for Perfectly Legal.

In addition to his reporting, David Cay Johnston studied economics at the University of Chicago graduate school and at six other institutions, earning several years of college credits but no degree because he enrolled primarily in upper level and graduate level courses.

Johnston teaches at Syracuse University and lives in Rochester.