Three months to thwart Governor Cuomo's fundamentally unfair Marcellus Shale proposal

Greetings,

It was revealed today that Governor Cuomo proposes to allow Marcellus Shale horizontal hydrofracturing to proceed in New York with the exception of the New York City and Syracuse watersheds, State lands and primary aquifers. See: http://www.dec.ny.gov/press/75403.html

His proposal is clearly an admission that Marcellus Shale horizontal hydrofracturing is inherently unsafe no matter what safeguards DEC might adopt in its revised draft SGEIS. Otherwise, the Governor would not propose to ban the practice in selected areas.

The Governor's proposal would break his campaign promise that "existing watersheds are sacrosanct and Andrew Cuomo would not support any drilling that would threaten the State's major sources of drinking water."

As you will see from the map below, major sources of drinking water comprise 75% of the Marcellus Shale formation. Tens of thousands of New Yorkers drink unfiltered water from private and public wells as well as surface waters throughout that area. Those residents deserve the same protection proposed for residents of New York City and Syracuse.

See: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/MarcellusShale/documents/map/watershed and http://www.toxicstargeting.com/MarcellusShale/documents/cuomo-statement-...

Any DEC regulatory plan that fails to provide equal protection for all New Yorkers must be rejected as totally unacceptable. We have at least three months to try to kill the Governor's fundamentally unfair plan.

The revised draft SGEIS will not be posted for public review until 7/8/11. The public comment period will reportedly begin sometime in August and will last 60 days.

Please note that Governor Cuomo's proposal cannot be implemented until a FINAL SGEIS is adopted. That should still be a long time in coming. With luck, at least a year from now.

Finally, the Governor's proposal calls into question the integrity of his efforts to revise the draft SGEIS pursuant to Executive Order No. 41 since he has already decided to allow Marcellus Shale horizontal hydrofracturing to proceed no matter how inadequate the revised draft SGEIS might be.

Call Governor Cuomo ASAP at 518-474-8390.

Email the Governor at http://www.governor.ny.gov/contact/GovernorContactForm.php

A. Demand Equal Environmental Protection for All New Yorkers From Marcellus Shale Horizontal Hydrofracturing.

B. If Marcellus Shale Hydrofracturing cannot be done safely in New York City and Syracuse watersheds, state lands and over primary aquifers, it obviously cannot be done safely anywhere in New York.

C. Send the draft SGEIS back to the drawing board for yet another do-over.

The chips are down. We have at least three months to thwart Governor Cuomo's inadequate and unfair proposal.

Best,

Walter