COMMENT SUBMISSIONS TO NY-DEC
Regarding draft SGEIS ...

Albert Appleton testimony before the New York City Council
Committee on Environmental Protection, October 23, 2009
"I was struck by the statement that Commissioner Grannis made on his cover letter, that I have no intention of allowing any threat to the watershed to be filtered. Unfortunately for Commissioner Grannis, he’s up against my mother, who never ceased to say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. And I would much prefer to see less rhetoric, stalwart as it might be, and more of Commissioner Grannis’s time spent on drafting legislation that would impose fees on the natural gas industry to pay for the at least 500 enforcement people it will take to supervise this industry in areas where it will be appropriate, which of course does not include ours or any other watershed. I’d like to see him announce that the governor is going to make that a top environmental priority and I would like to see him announce that no permits, whatever it takes this process through, will be granted until that enforcement staff is up and running":

Appleton_NYC.doc


SPR Submits Comments for Marcellus Shale on behalf of NRDC
Jessica Steinberg On December 30, 2009

Sive, Paget & Riesel (“SPR”) submitted a comment letter on behalf of the Natural Resources Defense Council (“NRDC”) addressing deficiencies in the Draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (“DSGEIS”) prepared by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (“NYSDEC”) regarding proposed natural gas extraction from the Marcellus Shale formation in the Southern Tier of New York State.  SPR’s comment letter, prepared by Steven Barshov and Jessica Steinberg, focused principally on matters of concern to towns and other units of local government within whose territory such proposed natural gas drilling would occur. SPR’s comment letter identified multiple deficiencies in the DSGEIS related to potential impacts of concern to units of local government, including traffic, noise, visual, community character and land use impacts.  SPR’s comment letter also encouraged DEC to adopt regulations that would provide units of local government with meaningful advisory input to NYSDEC during well permitting.  Access a complete copy of SPR’s comment letter—which is attached to NRDC’s comment letter:
 NYS-NRDC.pdf

Comments by Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, LLC.,
Friends of the Upper Delaware River, Inc., and NYH2O Inc.

Jeff Zimmerman presented comments on the Draft Supplement Environmental Impact Statement referenced above (draft SGEIS) on behalf of three groups, Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, Inc., Friends of the Upper Delaware River, Inc., and NYH2O, Inc.  Each of these groups and their members are concerned with preservation of the environment, aquatic and other resources, and surface and groundwater quality of the State of New York and the Delaware River Basin.  Potential development of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale and other geologic formations within the State of New York will significantly impact each of these groups and their members:

DCS-Comments-SGEIS.doc

Joe Levine comments for Marcellus Shale on behalf of
Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, LLC., and NYH2O Inc.

"The cumulative impacts on water alone are staggering. In this crucial time of water awareness - probably never greater, this activity requires enormous quantities of fresh water; 3 to 9 million gallons of water for each well. Wells are fracked multiple times—often up to 10 or more, and each fracking operation uses another several million gallons of water. All of the water is mixed with toxic chemicals used in the drilling and fracking process. Approximately half the water returns to the surface after use (processed water) – bringing up with it a host of other naturally occurring materials. This list is known to include heavy metals such as uranium, radium (NORM), mercury, lead, and carcinogens such as toluene, benzene and scores of others toxic materials. The other half of the contaminated water remains in the ground and can forever migrate and contaminate water supplies":

NY-Levine.doc


December 23 2009
Hinchey Formally Submits Comments on NYS DEC's
Draft Environmental Impact Statement for
Natural Gas Drilling Activities in New York
Congressman Says More Safeguards Are Needed to Protect Public Health
 
Kingston, NY -- Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) this week formally submitted comments to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in response to the agency's draft findings for how horizontal drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing to obtain natural gas in the Marcellus Shale would impact the environment and affect the quality of life for state residents.  While noting the economic benefits that natural gas drilling could have on the state and its residents, Hinchey said that the DEC first needs to take a series of additional comprehensive steps to adequately ensure that hydraulic fracturing does not contaminate drinking water supplies or jeopardize public health in any other way. 
 
"Natural gas development presents New York with a range of potential economic benefits, but those benefits come with some extraordinary environmental and public health risks that we cannot simply ignore and hope for the best," said Hinchey, regarding the comments he submitted on the DEC's draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (dSGEIS). "The DEC has taken a good step forward in setting some environmental guidelines, but a lot more work needs to be done.  It is tempting to move forward with drilling now in order to realize the economic benefits, but doing so in haste would unnecessarily subject the state to potential environmental and public health disasters that would be far more costly in every way.  Now is the time when we should be taking a closer look at what's happened in other states including Pennsylvania and Wyoming -- where waterways and drinking water supplies have been contaminated -- and take the steps needed to ensure such problems don't befall New York."
 
In his comments to the DEC, Hinchey laid out a series of 11 steps he believes the agency needs to take before drilling should be permitted in New York.  Those steps are:
1)      A cumulative impact analysis of natural gas drilling in the Marcellus formation to understand the full impact drilling could have on our water resources, air quality, local roads and infrastructure;
2)      A prohibition on the use of toxic chemicals in all fracturing fluids in order to prevent groundwater and surface water contamination;
3)      Require public disclosure of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing;
4)      A thorough review of the growing number of incidents from other states, including Pennsylvania and Wyoming, in which gas drilling is alleged to have caused explosions, well-contamination, ecological damage and health impacts. 
5)      Mandate that all baseline well water tests and complaints be handled by DEC, instead of county and local government as proposed in the dSGEIS, and be paid for by drilling companies.
6)      Develop a comprehensive wastewater plan for high-volume gas drilling in New York and require industry to put in place the necessary infrastructure to process and treat flowback fluids prior to the issuance of any drilling permits.
7)      Require on-site processing and reuse of fracturing fluids to minimize impacts from transportation and ensure that the water involved in fracking is used as efficiently as possible.
8)      Extend supplementary reviews with public input for key sensitive areas within the Marcellus Shale, including the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River and Catskill State Park, and accept calls for a drilling prohibition in the New York City Watershed.
9)      Dramatically increase the resources and staffing devoted to the permitting and oversight activities related to high-volume hydraulic fracturing.
10)  Only after addressing the questions raised by those who submit comments to the dSGEIS and dramatically improving safeguards and regulations for hydraulic fracturing, the DEC should adopt a phased-development approach to the Marcellus Shale and limit initial gas drilling permits to areas without significant environmental concerns in order to assess those operations and make adjustments to the permitting process.
11)   Extend the public comment period for an additional 90 days.
 
     Hinchey noted that strong state environmental protections are needed because of the lack of such safeguards on the federal level.  In the now infamous 2005 Energy Policy Act, which Hinchey strongly opposed and voted against, the then Republican-controlled Congress exempted hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), which was designed to protect public water supplies from toxic chemical contamination. This loophole, which some have called the Halliburton Loophole, created an extremely dangerous set of circumstances.
Earlier this year, Hinchey, Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-CO), and several of their colleagues introduced the FRAC ACT -- Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act, which would close the loophole that exempted hydraulic fracturing from the SDWA and require the oil and gas industry to disclose the chemicals they use in their hydraulic fracturing processes.  Currently, the oil and gas industry is the only industry granted an exemption from complying with the SDWA.
In a separate step, Hinchey secured final congressional approval of a provision he authored as part of the fiscal year 2010 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill that formally urges the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to conduct a new study on the risks that hydraulic fracturing poses to drinking water supplies.  In May, the congressman asked EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson at a House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee hearing about the need for such a study.  Jackson told Hinchey that she believed her agency should review the risk that fracturing poses to drinking water in light of various cases across the country that raise questions about the safety of the natural gas drilling practice.  Hinchey's measure formalizes a congressional request for an EPA study on the risks that toxic chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing pose to drinking water supplies in New York and across the nation.  The EPA did conduct a study on the matter in 2004 under the Bush administration, but that study is widely considered to be flawed for a variety of reasons, including the way data was selectively collected from sources that had a vested interest in the oil and gas industry while other relevant information was ignored.



DCS • Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, Inc. • P.O. Box 147 • Milanville, PA  18443