Coalition Letter Which Requests That Governor Cuomo Take Immediate Action to Enact a Comprehensive New York State Statutory Prohibition of All Forms of High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing Using Water, Gelled Propane or Any Other Fluids

The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo
Governor of New York State
The Capitol
Albany, NY 12224

Greetings:

We, the undersigned, write to request that you take immediate action to submit a bill to the New York State Legislature and make sure it is enacted into law in order to establish a comprehensive statewide statutory prohibition of all forms of High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing (HVHF) using water, gelled propane or any other fluids.

In June 2015 your Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) purported to adopt a prohibition of this highly polluting natural gas and oil extraction method after a seven-year regulatory review. However, the FINDINGS STATEMENT OF THE FINAL SUPPLEMENTAL GENERIC IMPACT STATEMENT ON THE OIL, GAS AND SOLUTION MINING REGULATORY PROGRAM was based on a woefully inadequate definition of HVHF:

"High-volume hydraulic fracturing is defined as the stimulation of a well using 300,000 or more gallons of water (emphasis added) as the base fluid for hydraulic fracturing for all stages in a well completion, regardless of whether the well is vertical or directional, including horizontal."

DEC's HVHF definition deliberately excluded highly flammable and potentially explosive "waterless" gelled propane fracking that had been proposed in Barton, NY circa 2012. If approved, that project reportedly could allow gelled propane fracking under more than 130,000 acres in Tioga County as well as in New York's entire Marcellus Shale formation.

See: Tioga County landowners look towards propane fracking

LPG Fracking Coming to Tioga NY?

Propane fracking deal reached in NY; Plan would open 130,000 acres in Tioga County for drilling

Request That You Adopt a Moratorium on Gelled Propane Fracking Because New York has Never Assessed its Public Health and Environmental Impacts

DEC is currently reviewing a: Tioga Energy Partners, LLC ECL Article 23 Application for Permit to Drill Using Gelled Propane Hydraulic Fracturing

Given that the public health and environmental hazards of "waterless" gelled propane fracking have never been assessed by New York authorities and the State Legislature is currently recessed, we request that you require DEC to adopt a de facto moratorium on this fracking method because it poses the same public health and environmental hazards that persuaded your administration to adopt its landmark High-Volume Hydrofracturing prohibition:

"The Department adopts the NYSDOH [New York State Department of Health, not in the original] statement in the Public Health Review that '[w]hile a guarantee of absolute safety is not possible, an assessment of the risk to public health must be supported by adequate scientific information to determine with confidence that the overall risk is sufficiently low to justify proceeding with HVHF in New York. The current scientific information is insufficient. Furthermore, it is clear from existing literature and experience that HVHF activity has resulted in environmental impacts that are potentially adverse to public health.'

The Department concludes that while the mitigation measures in some instances would likely be effective in reducing the risk of impacts, in other instances impacts would only be partially mitigated, and in some instances the Department recognizes that there is insufficient information, or too much uncertainty as to the effectiveness of the mitigation, to determine if the impacts Findings Statement, Page 40 could be adequately mitigated at all. The Department concludes that there would be unavoidable cumulative impacts to community character and wildlife habitat.

Based on unavoidable adverse environmental impacts and uncertainty regarding the science surrounding high-volume hydraulic fracturing and its potential impacts to public health and the environment, the Department finds that the best course of action is to select the No Action alternative. Selection of the No Action alternative means that the Department will not establish a high-volume hydraulic fracturing permitting program; that no individual or site-specific permit applications for wells using high-volume hydraulic fracturing will be processed; and that high-volume hydraulic fracturing will be prohibited in New York State (emphasis added)."

See: Findings Statement (PDF)

In order to implement a de facto moratorium on gelled propane fracking permit approvals, we request that DEC immediately halt all consideration of a proposed scope of work that could authorize preparation of a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (DSEIS) for the Tioga Energy Partners, LLC proposed Gelled Propane Hydraulic Fracturing project in Barton, NY.

Conclusion

With all respect, it would be utterly irresponsible of you to allow DEC to permit a DSEIS to be undertaken for gelled propane shale fracking based on the 1992 Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) ON THE OIL, GAS AND SOLUTION MINING REGULATORY PROGRAM. In 2008, DEC determined that the outdated GEIS was wholly insufficient to regulate High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing in New York. Moreover, New Yorkers can have no confidence in any environmental review conducted by a permit applicant with an indisputable conflict of interest.

In conclusion, given the inadequacy of your High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing prohibition based solely on hydrofracking, we request that you enact a comprehensive statewide statutory prohibition on all forms of HVHF using water, gelled propane or any other fluid. Until that has been achieved, we request that a moratorium be immediately adopted for gelled propane fracking in New York.

We trust that you will find our request to be self-explanatory and look forward to receiving your reply. Thank you for your consideration.

Very truly yours,

cc: Honorable B. Seggos
Honorable Howard Zucker
Honorable Steve Englebright
Honorable Todd Kaminsky
Honorable Donna Lupardo
Honorable Thomas F. O'Mara