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Review of fracking health risks sought
ALBANY — Opponents of hydrofracking said Monday that Gov. Andrew Cuomo has put the regulatory cart before the horse, with the state Department of Environmental Conservation offering rules to control hydrofracking while a newly launched review of its health impacts remains incomplete.
Opponents at the Capitol called for a public hearing on the potential health risks associated with fracking, something that currently would not be required under the DEC roadmap which will oversee the ultimate decision on whether the natural gas drilling technique should be allowed.
DEC offered its potential rules on Thursday, but those rules were done without the benefit of a review of fracking's potential impacts on human health being done by three experts hired by the state Health Department. Hired last month, the experts are working under a contract that, in one case, limits the panelist to be paid for no more than 25 hours of work to review what DEC has prepared on fracking's health impacts. It's part of the DEC's Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, which could guide the course of fracking in the Marcellus Shale if the state decides to proceed.
"That (timeline) is crazy," said Sandra Steingraber, of the anti-fracking Concerned Health Professionals of New York. "You cannot even read all the literature on health impacts in 25 hours."
She said the DEC's push to release proposed rules before a health study was ready was "something more befitting a third-world dictatorship than a modern democracy." DEC will accept public comments on its rules from Dec. 12 through Jan. 11.
The agency had to issue revised regulations by Nov. 29 or risk delay for another public comment period. When the agency issued regulations, it also filed for a 90-day extension to avoid having to restart the process for drafting rules.
The Health Department has not released the contract that it has with the three experts, and also has not specified what DEC material it is reviewing, nor how that review is supposed to be conducted.
"This review is being conducted in total secrecy ... in a ludicrously short time period," said Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, D-Ithaca.
She called for the governor's office to release details of the expert review, as well as for creation of a public comment period — including at least one public hearing — on fracking and human health before DEC makes any final decision.
Walter Hang, an environmental consultant with Toxics Targeting, located in Ithaca, said there are "hundreds" of cases of drinking water contamination and improper disposal of drilling wastes in New York for oil and gas drilling that is already allowed.
He said hundreds of abandoned oil and gas wells could be a pathway for methane and natural gas from new hydrofracked wells to escape into the environment and present a health risk.
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Environmentalists call for broader health review of hydrofracking
Fracking Foes Call on Cuomo to Restart Environmental Review
Opponents of high-volume hydraulic fracturing have sent a message to Governor Cuomo urging him to stop the shale gas rulemaking process involving New York State’s environmental regulatory agency.
The group also called on Cuomo to restart the environmental review proceeding to require public involvement in the state Department of Health impact analysis of potential fracking.
Walter Hang, president of Ithaca-based Toxics Targeting, says the letter was sent to the governor prior to Thursday’s deadline for the Department of Environmental Conservation to wrap up its shale gas rulemaking effort.
Speaking on WNBF Radio’s Binghamton Now program, Hang said a deadline extension should not be authorized because the health department’s analysis of the DEC health impact study hasn’t been completed.
Hang said no one knows the scope of the health department review because it’s never been publicized.
Hang said there should be a “time out” to avoid a rush to judgment on the potential health impact of fracking. He said it’s important for the public to have a say in how the health review is conducted.
In Hang’s view, the way the state’s been moving on the assessing possible health effects of fracking has amounted to “putting the cart before the horse.”
He said it’s inappropriate to go forward with the rulemaking process until a health review can be conducted with information about how the DEC proposes to oversee shale gas development that would utilize the fracking process.
Hang said Binghamton mayor Matthew Ryan and Tompkins County legislator Pamela Mackesey are among those who signed the coalition letter to Cuomo.
Leaders of several anti-fracking organizations also signed the message to the governor.
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Cuomo: state to miss fracking deadline set for Thursday
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The state’s environmental agency will know by Thursday whether it will miss a key deadline and delay approval of hydrofracking in New York once again. As Karen DeWitt reports, anti-fracking forces see an opportunity in the likely new delay, while those waiting to benefit economically from the gas drilling process are feeling frustrated.
Governor Andrew Cuomo says he expects the State’s Department of Environmental Conservation will fail to meet a November 29th deadline to propose new rules for the gas drilling process known as hydro fracking.
“We are not going to be able to,” Cuomo said. “The state wont finish the review by November 29th.”
Speaking in Rochester, Cuomo says the environmental agency will have to apply for an extension , which could delay the process for up to another six months.
The Health and Environmental Departments have agreed that a health review needs to be finished before new fracking rules can be finalized. The State Health Commissioner, Dr. Nirav Shah, just a few days before Thanksgiving, contracted with three nationally known health experts to help him examine the material.
Groups who oppose fracking say they’ll use the new delay as an opportunity to try to prevent the drilling from ever happening in New York . Walter Hang with Toxics Targeting, says his group will be writing letters to the three health experts to urge a thorough health review.
“I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that Dr. Shah and the three outside experts are fully aware of all of the pollution problems that have been reported in New York's oil and gas regions for decades and decades. We’re going to call upon them to make sure that they address all of those concerns,” Hang said.
Hang says there have been reports of past drinking water contamination, and failure to clean up past pollution from drilling. But he worries that the review will be narrowly focused, and not address opponents’ concerns, and he says he’s frustrated that the details of the review have not been made public.
“What are they supposed to do? That has never been disclosed,” said Hang. “We don’t know what the scope of their review is.”
Pro fracking groups say they are fed up with all of the delays. Dan Fitzsimmons is President of the Joint Landowners Coalition, a group of 77,000 landowners who he says have been working to see that New Yorkers who sign leases with the gas companies get a fair deal. The coalition has written its own letter to Governor Cuomo, saying the latest obstacle is a “breach of faith” in government. He says Cuomo, who has maintained that “science” would determine whether fracking goes ahead in New York, is getting cold feet in the face of growing opposition.
“He seems to not be looking at the science anymore,” said Fitzsimmons. “He’s basing his decisions and a lot of what he’s doing on emotions.”
Fitzsimmons says health effects of fracking have already been studied extensively, and numerous other states and nations have fracked successfully for years. He says he and his neighbors have only to look across the southern border into Pennsylvania, to see the economic benefits that gas drilling can bring.
“It’s so frustrating,” said Fitzsimmons, who says he sees “thriving” businesses in Pennsylvania, and farmers repairing their homes, and barns and buying new tractors.
“It’s incredible to see the benefits that this has brought,” said Fitzsimmons. “But yet, that border that’s sitting here, that invisible line, we can’t take advantage of that.”
Despite Governor Cuomo’s comments that the fracking deadline would be missed, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation would not confirm that the November 29th deadline will not be met, but says there will be more details made public before Thursday.
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