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EPA to Release Comments on Fracking
Wednesday marked the deadline for public comment on the state's environmental impact statement about fracking.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is readying comments for the state.
The EPA expects to release those comments before midnight Wednesday.
The agency delivered comments on a previous draft of the impact statement back in 2009.
Fracking opponents hope the EPA echoes their concerns.
Drilling supporters, meanwhile question the EPA's role saying it's a state issue.
"They need to wrap it up quickly. They've been three and a half years at it and they've done a very thorough job but it's taken way, way too long. And they've overdone certain aspects of it to the point that companies may not be able to do business," says Tom Shepstone from Energy In Depth.
"If the most important environmental regulatory agency in the nation says this is just not acceptable, it's incomplete, it's inadequate, I think that's going to be a hurdle that this proposal is simply not going to be able to surmount," says Walter Hang the President of Toxics Targeting.
A summary of DEC responses to comments will be included in the final S-GEIS and final fracking regulations.
Fracking foes hope for EPA support
Ithaca -- For anti-hydraulic fracturing activists like Ithaca environmentalist Walter Hang, Tuesday was D-Day.
On the last day to submit comments on the state Department of Environmental Conservation's draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, those who oppose the use of the natural gas drilling method in New York gathered at rallies in major cities across the state.
Hang has spent more than two months collecting nearly 22,000 signatures for a coalition letter urging Gov. Andrew Cuomo to withdraw a revised version of the draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement. He said he expects the rallies and letter, in combination with comments expected from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to pack a punch that would delay forward motion on hydrofracking in the state. Hang said he expected the EPA's statement to be "blistering."
A 2009 letter from the EPA listed several concerns with proposed regulations, none of which, Hang said, were adequately addressed in the state's revised regulations.
"Maybe as early as today, this letter will come out, and I think it will be extremely hard for the governor to say these proposed safeguards are based on good science," he said.
Hang's letter claims there are 17 "major flaws" in the draft impact statement, uppermost the DEC's lack of regulation.
At anti-fracking rallies in Albany during the governor's State of the State address, Hang said activists made an impression.
"They had to walk right by these giant, screaming, chanting hordes of anti-frackers," he said. "There wasn't a pro-fracker in sight."
Anti-Fracking Demonstration
In downtown Binghamton Tuesday morning, a group opposed to fracking set up shop on the sidewalk near the Holiday Inn Arena.
Benjamin Perkus is a member of New York Residents Against Drilling. He says the DEC's proposed fracking guidelines are insufficient to protect people and land and should be withdrawn.
Ben Perkus says, "There have been so many comments, criticisms and shortcomings of the SGEIS that all 21,000 people have agreed that this can't protect our land and water. That's why we're requesting that it be withdrawn."
Perkus believes fracking in the state will be delayed. He says an executive order by former Governor David Paterson states that fracking permits can't be issued until all environmental hazards have been addressed.
Protesters ready for State of the State address
Roughly 100 people protesting the potential approval of hydraulic fracturing in New York state are assembling in the Concourse of the Empire State Plaza near the hall where Gov. Andrew Cuomo will present his State of the State speech.
In an effort to bring attention to the practice, in which water and chemicals are blasted at high velocities at shale formations to extract natural gas, members of New York Residents Against Drilling and Frack Action gathered in front of the Convention Center where the governor will be delivering his much-anticipated address to New Yorkers today.
Protestors are especially concerned about the Department of Environmental Conservation's proposed Draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) which, they say, does not address the concerns of New Yorkers well enough.
Elaine Eerkus, a representative from NYRAD, said "the purpose here today is to send Governor Cuomo a clear message that we do not want fracking in the Southern Tier [of New York]."
Walter Hang, president of Toxic Targeting and the organizer of today's protest, said he supports Comptroller DiNapoli's proposal to introduce a Natural Gas Damage Recovery Fund into SGEIS. This proposal, similar to the Oil Spill Fund, would ensure that companies are held responsible for accidents involving natural gas extraction. "The problem with the petroleum spill remediation fund is it doesn't have enough money. There are 140,000 spills in New York that don't meet the applicable standards. [DiNapoli's] current system is woefully inadequate," said Hang.
Rev. Ellen Sokolow, a resident of Oneonta, said she came to Albany in hopes that Cuomo would work to ensure the practice does not come to New York state. Sokolow, not affiliated with any environmental group, called herself a representative of "the residents of New York" who was inspired to take action after seeing the movie Gas Land. "Everybody around the world is looking to New York state to stop this," she said. "New Yorkers have a very special spirit."
Anti-Hydrofracking protestors gather outside State of State [AUDIO]
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More than 100 protestors opposed to hydrofracking gathered in the Empire State Plaza Wednesday outside the auditorium where Governor Andrew Cuomo delivered his State of the State address, chanting "no fracking way!"
The governor has chosen his words carefully about the controversial natural gas drilling technique. He's said that he wants to protect the state's natural resources but let the science determine whether fracking can be done safely. Protestors complained that Cuomo is fast-tracking the environmental review. They said this year they want to see him stand firmly against the practice. Walter Hang was one of the protest leaders:
I think the problem is he’s already made the decision he wants to allow horizontal hydrofracking to occur because he thinks it will provide economic benefits, but just recently in the area where he wants to allow it to happen the Southern Tier, Binghamton voted to temporarily ban it. So we’re sending a strong message New Yorkers aren't confident horizontal hydrofracking can be done safely.
Many of the demonstrators had traveled to the Capitol from the Southern Tier, where much of the proposed drilling would take place.
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