Pol: We ‘Can’t Undo’ Potential Chemical Mess
With one local leader calling it “the biggest domestic threat in our lifetime,” plans to allow the use of a controversial gas drilling process in upstate regions were denounced by many elected officials, community activists and agencies in comments regarding the proposal submitted to the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
The DEC completed last Wednesday, Jan. 11, a public comment period regarding its second draft environmental impact statement on the potential use of hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) to tap into a vast natural gas shale lying miles below the earth in upstate areas.
Hydraulic fracturing involves the injection of a slurry comprised of a mix of water, sand and a cocktail of chemicals believed to be toxic into the earth.
The pressure created by this injection is designed to crack into the shale and force the release of natural gas through wells that will bring it to the surface.
Opponents of the method fear that the chemicals used in hydrofracking would eventually seep through natural runoff and contaminate upstate reservoirs that serve as the city’s water supply. They have cited incidents in which reservoirs in Ohio and Pennsylvania have been contaminated by chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing in both states.
Proponents, however, argue that introducing the drilling method in New York would allow the Empire State to tap into a large natural gas reserve that would help the nation gain further energy independence. The ac- tivity would also spur economic gains in a region of the state that has suffered financially for decades.
DEC Commissioner Joseph Martens stated that “there has been an unprecedented response to this issue, with tens of thousands of comments submitted.” Each of them will be “carefully considered as we develop the final rules and conditions for high-volume hydraulic fracturing.”
“[The] DEC has carefully studied this issue for nearly four years and we continue to study each and every issue associated with this activity,” he said. “If high-volume hydraulic fracturing moves forward in New York, it will move forward with the strictest standards in the nation to ensure New York’s drinking water and other natural resources are thoroughly protected.”
Despite Martens’ promise of taking pains to ensure that drilling methods are conducted safely, various representatives of New York City argue that the risks of hydrofracking far outweigh the benefits.
“I still believe that the process to extract natural gas is flawed and requires extensive guidance from the DEC and from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),” State Sen. Joseph Addabbo said. “I perceive that the concept to drill as soon as possible in new York State is being done in haste, when protests and valid testimony were presented and submitted. Natural gas drilling companies and supporters of this practice have so much to gain from enlisting further input from protestors and impacted individuals from neighboring states, where evaluations of methods and testimony can produce alternative environmentally-sound drilling techniques.”
“Our state cannot seek to create upstate jobs while at the same time create a long-term, harmful condition for people throughout the state,” the senator added, going on to note that “I belive that if any doubt exists as to the safety of the hydrofracking process, we should not proceed to issue any permits.”
Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi also repeated his opposition to hydraulic fracturing during Community Board 5’s Jan. 11 meeting at Christ the King Regional High School in Middle Village. He noted that the use of the drilling method would be “absolutely horrible” to the city and state in general.
“We don’t know what the hell they’re putting into the ground,” Hevesi said in indicating that the energy companies wishing to drill in New York State will not disclose what kind of chemicals will be used in the hydrofracking process.
Hevesi stated that he was troubled that Gov. Andrew Cuomo did not bring up hydraulic fracturing in his Jan. 4 State of the State Address. “This leads me to believe that he thinks it’s still a viable issue,” he told board members.
The assemblyman also noted that the potential closure of the Indian Point nuclear power plant could also impact the decision on whether the state should move to allow hydraulic fracturing.
“Keep an eye on this issue,” Hevesi urged residents, noting that “if the mess up this watershed, you can’t undo it.”
Board 5 District Manager Gary Giordano went further to call the potential use of hydraulic fracturing in upstate New York to be “the biggest domestic threat in our lifetime.”
“There is some thought process that it is okay to drill and to pump millions of gallons of water, sand and cancer-causing chemicals” to do this, he said. “The health risks are much too great than the economic benefits.”
Vincent Arcuri, Board 5’s chairperson, agreed, noting that the advisory body was among the first in the state to question the safety of hydrofracking and oppose its use in New York State.
Noting that the board’s opposition was, at first, based on the desire to protect the city’s water supply, Arcuri noted that it’s “affecting the whole state and it should be abandoned totally.”
In written comments submitted to the DEC on Jan. 11, the city’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Carter Strickland maintained that the agency supports the DEC’s “proposed ban on high-volume hydrofracking in the Catskill/Delaware watershed area and a 4,000 foot buffer around the watershed,” but requested further steps to maximize the protection of the city’s water supply.
The DEP urged the state to also institute a seven-mile “Infrastructure Exclusion Zone,” where hydrofracking would not be permitted around the Delaware and Catskill Aqueducts from reservoirs.
They also asked for a two-mile “Infrastructure Exclusion zone” around water tunnels linked to the aqueducts and an “Enhanced Protection Zone” from two to seven miles around other water tunnels in the area.
Strickland noted that the city is also requesting the authority to object to any hydraulic fracturing applications in the “Enhanced Protection Zone.”
On the opposite side of the debate, the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York (IOGA) issued a press release on Jan. 9 stating that “repeated delays” in the approval of hydraulic fracturing permits “have resulted in the loss and erosion of the state’s job base and the stability of many local businesses.
“I understand the state’s need to be deliberate and to make all the necessary assurances regarding environmental protection,” said John Holko of the IOGA. “But we are seriously approaching the point where we will either force businesses from New York, prevent them from coming here at all or over-regulate the industry to extinction.”
The IOGA called on Governor Cuomo and the state legislature “to reject all unreasonable requests to obstruct the tremendous opportunity that expanded natural gas exploration and development will bring to the state,” according to its press release.
