Too busy to read further? Check out the Immediate Action Guide: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/MarcellusShale/alerts/2013/01/10/quick-ac...
Greetings,
Andrew Cuomo is facing unprecedented political pressure to safeguard New York from shale gas fracking, but he has not kicked the proverbial can down the road. We must crank up the heat even higher.
Every indication is that the Governor wants to permit fracking, but he has announced no final decision. It could come mighty soon, perhaps by 2/13/13. See: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/news/2013-01-13/decs-actual-fracking-deci...
Against that background, I write today to bring you up to date and to request your immediate assistance.
DEC's Ridiculously Inadequate Revised Rulemaking Proposal Must be Rejected
As I read DEC's ridiculously inadequate Revised Rulemaking Proposal in order to draft my comments, it was painfully obvious that the agency simply refuses to accept its regulatory failures no matter how many hundreds of fires, explosions, polluted water wells and massive pollution discharges are documented by its own data.
DEC's Revised Rulemaking Proposal repeatedly refers to the implementation of a SGEIS. There is no question in my mind that the Revised Rulemaking Proposal unmistakably reveals the shortcomings of the Final SGEIS.
I wrote: "With all respect, this draft proposal is ill-considered, riddled with technical flaws and extraordinarily poorly drafted. It also fails to address hundreds of gas and oil extraction hazards documented by DEC’s own data. Given its lack of integrity, I respectfully request that DEC’s draft proposal be rejected as a whole (emphasis added)."
See: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/MarcellusShale/documents/comments/2013/01...
THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT DEC'S REVISED RULEMAKING PROCEEDING CANNOT BE COMPLETED UNTIL A FINAL SUPPLEMENTAL GENERIC ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT (SGEIS) IS ADOPTED.
A FINAL SGEIS CANNOT BE ADOPTED UNTIL THE INFAMOUS DOH REVIEW IS DONE.
IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT GOVERNOR CUOMO REQUIRE IMMEDIATE PUBLIC PARTICIPATION FOR THE DOH REVIEW. IF THAT CAN BE ACHIEVED, NEITHER THE SGEIS NOR THE RULEMAKING PROCEEDING COULD BE COMPLETED BY THE LOOMING DEALINES.
With those goals in mind, please help with the following tasks:
1. After only two days of session, Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton's DOH Review public participation sign-on letter has 45 signatories. The letter has been sent to every member of the New York State Legislature.
See: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/sites/default/files/pdfs/lifton_signon_20...
Assembly Members: http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/
State Senators: http://www.nysenate.gov/senators
See who is a signatory: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/MarcellusShale/documents/2013/01/07/lifto...
2. Three key Assembly Leaders (Sweeney, Gottfried and Lavine) wrote to Commissioner Martens and Shah about the DOH Review travesty. Neither Commissioner showed up to testify at the Assembly hearing last Thursday. That is a shocking breech of decorum. See: http://toxicstargeting.com/sites/default/files/pdfs/Assembly-Fracking-jo...
3. Please write to thank Assembly members Lifton, Sweeney, Gottfried and Lavine for their courageous leadership:
LIFTONB@ASSEMBLY.STATE.NY.US
SWEENEYR@ASSEMBLY.STATE.NY.US
GOTTFRIEDR@ASSEMBLY.STATE.NY.US
LAVINEC@ASSEMBLY.STATE.NY.US
"...Only in Communities That Express Support For the Technology"
If worse comes to worst and a Final SGEIS is adopted, New York's shale gas extraction moratorium would be lifted. There would likely be an immediate legal challenge, but drilling permits could be issued unless a court issues a "stay" while the matter is decided. There is no assurance that a legal "stay" would be granted.
Under that grim scenario, we would likely have at least one last-ditch opportunity to prevent shale gas fracking in New York.
Danny Hakim's 6/13/12 NYT article about the Cuomo administration's limited shale gas fracking plan reported:
ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's administration is pursuing a plan to limit the controversial drilling method known as hydraulic fracturing to portions of several struggling New York counties along the border with Pennsylvania, and to permit it only in communities that express support for the technology (emphasis added).
Mr. Hakim also reported: "...a few dozen [communities] in the Southern Tier, a row of counties directly north of Pennsylvania, and in western New York have passed resolutions in favor of the drilling process (emphasis added).
See: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/MarcellusShale/news/2013-01-13/cuomo-prop...
It actually turns out that no pro-fracking resolutions have been passed in the Southern Tier. New York State Attorney General, Eric T. Schneiderman, recently investigated the similarly worded resolutions distributed by the Joint Landowners Coalition (JLC) that were passed by approximately 40 Towns in the Southern Tier. The attorney for the JLC recently admitted to the Press and Sun Bulletin that the resolutions: " simply show support for the state and are not pro- or anti-drilling..."
This means localities which wish to support shale gas fracking in New York might have to pass pro-fracking resolutions before the practice is permitted. That might be extremely difficult to accomplish.
First things first. Please get Signatories for Ms. Lifton's letter.
Then fill in the form letter below and send it to your local officials requesting that no pro-fracking resolutions be adopted if no one else has already done so.
See: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/news/2012-12-11/ag-inquires-about-conflic...
Keep slugging. Do not stop till you drop.
Best,
Walter
See where letters have already been sent: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/MarcellusShale/documents/maps/2012/07/11/...
Fill in the blanks and Email it ASAP to Your Local Town/Village/City as well as County authorities.
Honorable _____
Mayor/Town Supervisor/Town Board Member/County Executive/Village Trustee/County Legislator/Environmental Management Council Member/Natural Gas Advisory Committee Member
Address
Dear _____:
My name is ______ and I live at _______________. I write today to request that the Town/City/Village/County of ____ adopt no resolutions or public policies at this time supporting Marcellus Shale gas extraction.
Since 2008, a shale gas fracking moratorium has been in effect in New York pending adoption of comprehensive environmental and health safeguards pursuant to a Final Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS).
Until a Final SGEIS is adopted, I believe that it would be premature and entirely inappropriate for the Town/City/Village/County of ____________ to adopt any pro-fracking policies.
Very truly yours,
DEC's fatally flawed shale gas regulatory efforts are based on the following factually incorrect assertions:
“As a result of New York's rigorous regulatory process, the types of problems reported to have occurred in states without such strong environmental laws and rigorous regulations haven't happened here. No known instances of groundwater contamination have occurred from previous horizontal drilling or hydraulic fracturing projects in New York State.”
A secret Cuomo Administration Health Impact Assessment document similarly concludes: "human chemical exposures during normal HVHF operations will be prevented or reduced below levels of significant health concern. Thus, significant adverse impacts on human health are not expected from routine HVHF operations."
The document adds: "When spills or accidents occur, the Department has identified numerous additional mitigation measures, including emergency-response planning, setbacks and buffers, so that significant exposures to people and resources on which they rely are unlikely (emphasis added).
http://www.toxicstargeting.com/sites/default/files/118765930-Hydraulic-F...