The Capitol Pressroom for May 24, 2012 | WCNY Blogs

The Capitol Pressroom for May 24, 2012 | WCNY Blogs.

The Governor promised to create a tax reform and fairness commission.   Today, two activists ask when he’ll be rolling it out.  Robert McKeon of TREND, Tax Reform Effort of Northern Dutchess & Ronald Deutsch of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, both members of the Omnibus will join me.

Several groups who aren’t fans of the Cuomo administration’s education policies have formed a new coalition.  We speak with Nikki Jones of the Alliance for Quality Education & coalition member Doug Wyant, Jr.,  Superintendent of Schools, Hornell City School District about what they are pushing the Governor to do.

**warning**warning**math ahead**slow down**warning**warning**it’ll be okay**take a breath**

One of the reasons uranium 238 is considered so dangerous is that its half-life is 4.4 billion years.
In human practical terms, the stuff never goes away.

Radon, which is found in natural gas, has a half-life of almost 4 days (3.8).   This means that over 4 days, 50% of a unit of radon will be shed away.  In 8 days, 50% more will shed, leaving 25% of the original unit.    The EPA says the “airborne action level” (aka, the time to DO something) to trigger radiation clean-up is 4 picoCuries per liter.  This means in 4 days, 2 of those picoCuries of radon will dissipate.  After 8 days, 1 more of those picoCuries of radon will dissipate.

Most of the natural gas that arrives in the homes of people living in NYC travels for about a week up from the gulf coast allowing it to shed over half of its radiation.  What if New Yorkers start getting gas from the Marcellus?  The travel time is only ½ a day, not long enough for the radiation to shed.

What’s this mean?  Today we speak with two people who will explain this to us in lay language:  Attorney Jeff Zimmerman for Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, Inc. and NYH2O, Inc., and Dr. Larysa Dryszka, a former Director of Pediatrics at Holy Name Hospital as well as a steering committee member for the Damascus Citizens.