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DEC Commissioner Martens: State health report on hydrofracking not coming any time soon
Don't expect a final, state report on the health aspects of hydrofracking any time soon, said Joe Martens, commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Martens was referring to a report being compiled by state Health Commissioner Dr. Nirav Shah, who this past summer said he was examining other studies across the country, including those being done by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Pennsylvania.
At the time, Shah said he expected the report would be finished in a "couple of weeks."
That's not happening, Martens said in an interview late last week.
"No, I have not seen it," the DEC commissioner said.
"We don't feel that there's a great urgency," he added. " People really want to be satisfied that this can be done safely and that's what Dr. Shah is trying to get to the bottom of."
Martens made the remarks following last Friday's graduation ceremony of new environmental conservation officers and forest rangers at the state Department of Environmental Conservation's Training Facility in Altmar. He also discussed the issue of state approval of liquefied natural gas stations in the state, along with his feelings about the progress being made by Honeywell in the cleanup of Onondaga Lake.
The DEC was scheduled to begin issuing regulations on hydrofracking - a deep drilling method of extracting natural gas - in February. But that deadline came and went with no final decision by Cuomo. Instead, the governor said he would wait for Shah to analyze any potential health effects of the drilling. Months later, Shah has yet to issue any report.
Meanwhile, the Seneca Lake Pure Waters Association, has filed papers in state Supreme Court demanding to see what Shah is reviewing.
A poll out today from Siena College Research Institute found voters statewide oppose hydrofracking 43 percent to 38 percent. The poll has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.4 percent.
The following are excerpts from Friday's interview with Martens:
Q: Dr. Shah's health report on hydro fracking. Where is it right now? Have you seen it?
A: No, I have not seen it and Dr. Shah is following other studies that are going on around the country. The EPA has had an ongoing study, along with the health system in Pennsylvania, whose name escapes me, which has a long-term health study. (Dr. Shah) and his staff have been in communication with several other entities that are involved with health studies now.
As for the delay, Dr. Shah thought he would have had it done in three weeks. The more he's learned about (the other studies), he's come to recognize that it's going to take time before they're completed.
Q: Is there any timeline that's been given to him by you, or the governor?
A: No, I think initially the thought was that it could be turned around fairly quickly. He was going to review what DEC did personally. Department of Health staff worked very closely with us on it. The governor asked Dr. Shah to take a look at it personally and Dr. Shah started looking at what's going on in other places around the country. So there is no deadline. I haven't talked to Dr. Shah about it in weeks, and only for an update during which he said he's following what's going on around the country.
"We don't feel that there's a great urgency. People really want to be satisfied that this can be done safely and that's what Dr. Shah is trying to get to the bottom of."
Q: We had an article in our paper the DEC's proposal to allow liquefied (natural) gas stations in this state. Some have said the DEC's approval of those is an indication that the state is obviously going to approve hydro fracking. Does one follow the other?
A: The two are totally unrelated. We are the only state in the country, I believe that does not allow these storage facilities There's a need (as requested from the industry here for its use by larger trucks, carrier vehicles) to use natural gas as a a fuel, but they can't fuel anywhere else in the state because we don't allow it. We don't allow these fueling stations to exist. Peopl are bound to be suspicious of anything having to do with natural gas and relating it to fracking. These regulations have nothing to do with fracking.
Q: Is the DEC happy with the progress being made by Honeywell as far as the cleanup of Onondaga Lake. As everything going according to plan?
A: Ken (DEC Region 7 Director Ken Lynch) keeps more current on it than I do. But I will say that based on the last report, we're satisfied with the progress. We think the progress is good. Obviously, there's been some bumps along the way, but there's bound to be bumps on a project of this scale. The dredging is proceeding very efficiently. They're doing what they agreed to do. . I toured the facility last year, just before they started the dredging project and I have to say that I was very impressed with the professional nature which they were pursuing virtually every aspect of the project, from the water treatment plant to the waste disposal facility.
Cuomo on fracking review: "I think we're doing a good job on it"
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he's comfortable with the state's review of hydraulic fracturing, telling reporters in Utica that his administration is "doing the best we can to understand all the facts."
"We're trying to bring down the emotion and bring up the information, so we'll make a decision on the facts rather than on feelings, which is always good," Cuomo said. "We are doing the best we can to understand all the facts which obviously it's hard to get all the information put together, but I feel good about where we are."
Cuomo was asked about fracking in the context of a letter sent this week by Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, a Broome County Democrat who asked the state Department of Environmental Conservation to order a more comprehensive review of the potential health impacts of shale-gas drilling.
Cuomo said he wasn't aware of the content of Lupardo's letter.
"I don't know the facts that she's referring to, but in general I think we're doing a good job on it," Cuomo said.
The state's current health review was launched more than a year ago and has been conducted largely in secret. There's been no recent indication when Health Commissioner Nirav Shah will complete his work.
High-volume fracking, meanwhile, remains under a de facto moratorium in New York that was first launched in 2008.
Fracking panel member wants stronger NY health review
A Southern Tier assemblywoman is asking the state to put an immediate pause on the Health Department’s review of hydraulic fracturing, instead calling for a more-comprehensive analysis that is “transparent and thorough.”
In a letter this week to state Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens, Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, D-Endwell, Broome County, knocked the state’s current review of fracking’s health impacts.
The review, launched by Health Commissioner Nirav Shah a year ago, has been conducted with “no public notice, opportunity for public review or public hearing to listen to testimony from interested parties,” Lupardo noted.
“In order for the public to have confidence in New York State’s ‘health impact analysis’ of shale fracking, a comprehensive Public Health Impact Study should be undertaken openly and transparently to resolve all shale fracking concerns once and for all,” Lupardo wrote. “As you know, the Assembly majority has been pushing this for a number of years.”
Lupardo is a member of the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing Advisory Panel, which was launched in July 2011 and tasked with coming up with an appropriate fee structure for gas drillers. But the panel, which includes a number of advocates on both sides of the issue, hasn’t met since December 2011.
In her letter, Lupardo again asked Martens to re-convene the panel to assess the status of Shah’s health review. Her previous request for a panel meeting was rebuffed by Martens in February, according to the letter.
“With so many questions lingering in the public’s mind about health impacts related to (fracking), it makes sense to move ahead in a way that will provide meaningful answers,” Lupardo wrote.
A DEC spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
There’s been no recent indication when Shah’s review may be completed, which is one of the last remaining hurdles ahead of a decision on whether to open New York’s portion of the Marcellus Shale to fracking.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo was last asked about the issue in September, when he said there was “nothing new” to report.
Fracking panel member wants NY health review put on hold
A Southern Tier assemblywoman is asking the state to put an immediate pause on the Health Department's review of hydraulic fracturing, instead calling for a more-comprehensive analysis that is "transparent and thorough."
In a letter Wednesday to state Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens, Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, D-Endwell, Broome County, knocked the state's current review of fracking's health impacts.
The review, launched by Health Commissioner Nirav Shah a year ago, has been conducted with "no public notice, opportunity for public review or public hearing to listen to testimony from interested parties," Lupardo noted.
"In order for the public to have confidence in New York State's 'health impact analysis' of shale fracking, a comprehensive Public Health Impact Study should be undertaken openly and transparently to resolve all shale fracking concerns once and for all," Lupardo wrote. "As you know, the Assembly majority has been pushing this for a number of years."
Lupardo is a member of the state Department of Environmental Conservation's High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing Advisory Panel, which was launched in July 2011 and tasked with coming up with an appropriate fee structure for gas drillers. But the panel, which includes a number of advocates on both sides of the issue, hasn't met since December 2011.
In her letter, Lupardo again asked Martens to re-convene the panel to assess the status of Shah's health review. Her previous request for a panel meeting was rebuffed by Martens in February, according to the letter.
"With so many questions lingering in the public's mind about health impacts related to (fracking), it makes sense to move ahead in a way that will provide meaningful answers," Lupardo wrote.
There's been no recent indication when Shah's review may be completed, which is one of the last remaining hurdles ahead of a decision on whether to open the Marcellus Shale to fracking. Gov. Andrew Cuomo was last asked about the issue in September, when he said there was "nothing new" to report.
Key Assembly Member On Fracking Panel Calls For Health Study Do-Over
A Binghamton Assemblywoman who is on the Cuomo’s Administration’s hydro fracking advisory panel is asking for a do over of an ongoing heath review, saying the secretive process has compromised public confidence.
Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, a Binghamton Democrat, has written a letter to Cuomo’s environmental commissioner, asking that a health review by the Governor’s Health Commissioner Dr Nirav Shah, to be put on hold. The year long study has been conducted mostly in secret. Her letter, posted on her Facebook page, says in part “In order for the public to have confidence in New York State’s “health impact analysis” of shale fracking, a comprehensive public health impact study should be undertaken openly and transparently to resolve all shale fracking concerns once and for all”.
Walter Hang, with the anti fracking group Toxics Targeting, says the letter is significant.
“When someone so low key and behind the scenes as Assemblywoman Lupardo takes such dramatic action, I really think that sends an unmistakable message to Governor Cuomo,” Hang said. “This has gone past the point of no return.”
Lupardo is the assembly’s representative on the Cuomo Administration’s fracking advisory board. It has not met in over a year and a half. The Assemblywoman, in her letter, mentions that she had asked back in February of this year that the advisory panel re convene and be briefed on the on going health study, but her request was declined.
In September of 2012, Cuomo’s environmental commissioner announced that Dr. Shah would begin a health review, and that there would be no decision on going ahead with hydro fracking in the state until it was finished. Three outside experts were contracted to review health data that the environmental agency said it had on hand. The experts signed confidentiality clauses, and have never spoken publicly about their work. More recently, Dr. Shah has said he’s traveled to state’s that allow fracking, including Pennsylvania and Texas, and is looking at several on ongoing studies, including one by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and one by a Pennsylvania health care company.
In a rare public comment last spring, Dr. Shah said he was continuing to work on the health review, and that there was “no real timetable”. At the time he made those comments, back in April, Dr. Shah said he expected to be done in a few weeks.
Governor Cuomo has said for years now that when he does make the decision on whether to frack, it will be based on “science and facts”, not “emotions”.
The state has had a defacto moratorium on fracking for five years, and polls show the public is evenly divided on the issue.
The Department of Environmental Conservation declined to comment on Assemblywoman Lupardo’s letter.