Sally Howard. PROVIDED PHOTO
Some environmental groups are calling for the state to scrap a draft environmental document which, if approved, would pave the way for a particular method of drilling in the Marcellus and Utica Shales.
The shales contain significant natural gas reserves and energy companies are eager to tap into them. But environmentalists are concerned that the drilling would pose a public-health risk and damage the environment.
The public has until December 31 to comment on the environmental impact statement. Officials with the State Department of Environmental Conservation will review the comments, prepare a response, and determine if changes to the document are needed.
Some environmental groups, however, are calling on state officials to scrap the document and start from scratch. Requirements for drillers are too vague, they say, and the state should develop specific, clear, and enforceable regulations.
"The teeth are not in this document to assure public safety," says Dereth Glance of Citizens Campaign for the Environment.
DEC officials have said, however, that the document and the state's current regulatory framework are sufficient to protect the environment and public health.
To get at the natural gas, L-shaped wells will be drilled deep into the Marcellus and Utica Shales. Millions of gallons of fracking fluid - water, chemicals, and an abrasive - are forced down the wells to break up the rock and release the gas.
Concerns over water use and contamination have been persistent, however. New York's water infrastructure already needs investment and if contamination happens, that'll require yet more investment, says Sally Howard, a member of the Federation of Monroe County Environmentalists. [She wasn't speaking on the group's behalf.] And New York lacks treatment capacity for used hydrofracking fluid.
Members of the House of Representatives, including Congress member Eric Massa, are pushing for the federal Environmental Protection Agency to study the effects of hydrofracking on water. And Massa says that the DEC's regulations don't go far enough.
"At the end of the day, when these companies leave, we've got to be able to drink the water," Massa says.
Comments for "MARCELLUS SHALE: Kill the drill " (8)
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Jim Barth said on Dec. 23, 2009 at 10:42am
It was formally announced this morning that the office of the Mayor of the City of New York has urged the NYS DEC to ban drilling and frac'ing in the NYC watershed. This demand comes after the Mayor commissioned an independent study on the matter. The report has been completed, and it has determined that such industrial activity is an unacceptable and direct threat to the drinking water of the nine million people who depend upon this watershed.
The City of New York, along with all environmental groups, believe that this activity is incompatible, as practiced, with all watersheds, and that the NYS DEC has no ability to regulate or enforce, let alone prevent, our water, air and environment from becoming contaminated.
Balanced View said on Dec. 23, 2009 at 11:02am
Do your homework. Abrasives? Anything but. The propants, probably what you are referring to and most commonly sand of some gradation, are best if the structure is spherical . . . reducing friction and creating pore space between the particles for gas to flow. The issue isn't the physical practice of fraking, but rather the overland transport, and the occassional traffic accident that is likely to occur. Evenso, there are considerably more hazardous materials routinely traveling our roads without mention. Let's face it, there isn't a level of 'protection' everyone will be happy with. Get over it. Do good deeds with the money.
steve lafountain said on Dec. 23, 2009 at 7:18pm
Listen there all kinds of problems and solutions, we have the solution to any possible pollution in the waste water the Co. in New Mexico has that filter that brings the waste water back 10 times cleaner than drinking water. Listen New York we need clean energy and this the start
Tom Janowski said on Dec. 23, 2009 at 10:49pm
It amazes me how shortsighted and single-minded people can be. When it comes to spending money, it is so very often mentioned that spending today is the future debt of our children.
So why aren't more people concerned about the issues surrounding the extraction process for the Marcellus gas? People see a source of cheap gas and it is full speed ahead...and forget about the fact that we may have to destroy the earth in the process. Humans' and their need for big cars and bigger SUVs and big homes have been poisoning the earth for a very long time. Now with some focus on global warming, I would think that people might wake up a bit and see what's going on.
We don't need more gas or oil. We need completely different sources of energy. Instead of paying the price by risking the earth's well being, lets just concentrate on solar, wind and other clean and safe forms of energy.
Let's leave our children a nice place to live.
Sheela Kingsbury said on Dec. 26, 2009 at 12:49pm
Water is absolutely our most valuable resource...civilization can exist without oil and gas, but never without water. To gamble with our health and water for the sake of economic gain and short range benefits in light of all the information about the hazards of this form of drilling, is a crime against humanity and the planet.
Jason Tojdowski said on Dec. 24, 2011 at 8:03am
Fracking has been around for a long time and you only here of the bad things about
it.Toyota sells cars that are recalled everyday but the public don't stop buying them.
I have been on both sides of drilling for 20 yrs (gas ,oil and the enviromental) all I
can say is keep a open mind to fracking don't jump to one side or the other!!!!
Also take 5 mins. to stop and think of something in your life that DOES NOT revolve
around some form of fossil fuel(heat your home,fill your gas tank,transport food to the store and all the forms of plastic in your life yes Wal Mart bags too) so if you don't want to live like humans did thousands of years ago stay open minded .Yes it has it's good points and like anything else it has it bad ones to.
Tom Janowski said on Dec. 26, 2011 at 12:08pm
IF hydrofracking is safe, gas drilling companies such as Chesapeake and Noble should voluntarily conform to the regulations of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. IF fracking is safe, there is no reason to be exempt from these environmental protection acts.
Tom Janowski said on Dec. 26, 2011 at 6:21pm
I visited my parents on their farm IN Elmira (yes there is a farm IN Elmira) for Christmas and took a drive down Rt.14 to Troy, PA and then west on Rt. 6 to Mansfield, PA. The most common two words seen during this drive were "RESIDUAL WASTE". These two words were seen over and over and over again on the constant line of tanker trucks. Think about these two words!
While "residual waste" is specifically seen on tanker trucks and specifically refers to the toxic backflow water that comes back up out of fracked wells, "residual waste" really has many more meanings that we will continue to learn about if fracking happens in New York State.
At some point we will realize "residual waste" contained within those tankers are really only symbolic of the undiscovered pollution left behind by fracking. We will have to wait years, maybe centuries to feel the affects.
At some point, someone in the future will finally wake up and realize that the continued development of fossil fuel was a "residual waste" of time and a denial of the past, current and future environmental problems that can only be solved by a 180 degree turn away from all fossil fuels.
Finally, will New York be referred to as a "residual waste-land" along with PA, TX, CO, OK and all the other states willingly and knowingly allowing the pollution of fracking to destroy what's left of our land?
The flip side of the wealth of hydrofracking is "residual waste" in all its forms.
Do you want New York and residual waste to become interchangeable?
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