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Cuomo gets earful from State of State protesters
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Governor Andrew Cuomo is getting an earful from protesters as he prepares to deliver his State of the State speech, devoted in part to celebrating his first year in office.
Opponents of hydraulic fracturing are toting signs that say the Democrat can never be president if he can't protect the state's water supply.
They're against extracting natural gas from a reserve in upstate New York by injecting water and chemicals into shale formations.
Those protesters were joined Wednesday by other progressive groups, including Occupy Albany and the Hunger Action Network. They
say Cuomo has served middle class taxpayers and corporations while hurting the poor through budget cuts.
Cuomo and the Legislature addressed a $10 billion deficit last spring in part through reduced funding for education and nonprofit social service groups.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Mandate relief, drilling rules missing from Cuomo's speech, Tompkins observers note
Ithaca -- Leaders in Tompkins County were commenting more on what wasn't in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's State of the State address Wednesday than what was in it.
Tompkins County Legislator Martha Robertson, D-Dryden, said she was disappointed Cuomo's speech lacked any mention of state mandate and Medicaid relief for local governments.
"He gets so much credit for the tax cap, and he promised that would come with mandate relief," Robertson said, noting that if a push for mandate relief doesn't come from the governor's office, it's not likely to start anywhere else.
Robertson and Toxics Targeting President Walter Hang, an environmental activist, pointed out Cuomo didn't include comments on the Marcellus Shale or the Department of Environmental Conservation's draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement on hydraulic fracturing.
"I think that's really good," Hang said. No mention of fracking could mean he has no plans to move the regulations or environmental impact statement forward, Hang explained. "He didn't indicate that that's in any part of his immediate plans."
But the speech did include several topics of concern for Tompkins residents and municipalities, Robertson said, including funding for infrastructure projects, voluntary public financing for campaigns, and non-partisan legislative redistricting.
Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga BOCES Superintendent Ellen O'Donnell said she was disappointed Cuomo did not mention the Board of Regents or the commissioner of education.
"We have a leadership structure that has been working at breakneck speed for reforming education in New York state and they should be credited," she said.
Districts can certainly do better, she said, but there are a lot of obstacles, such as childhood poverty or students not coming to school prepared to learn. Districts are not looking for more resources, but rather a more equitable distribution of those resources, O'Donnell said.
People in education are not afraid of being held accountable for students' test results, but really are just looking for a fairer distribution of resources, she added.
"Many of our districts in this area are getting good results with children," she said. "It is blanket statements about underperforming schools that sometimes need clarification."
Hydrofracking opponents stake their ground
Among the politicians, lobbyists, local officials and press corps flooding the Empire State Plaza concourse for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s second State of the State address, several dozen anti-hydrofracking protesters are wielding signs with a message leaving little doubt who they’re targeting: “In 2014, we’ll remember.”
Another read: “Governor Cuomo, If you can’t protect NY water, you can’t become president.”
The protesters—led by Ithaca environmentalist/business owner/gadfly Walter Hang—have gathered in the concourse outside of the entrance to the Empire State Plaza Convention Center, where Cuomo will give his speech at 1:30 p.m.
But with high-volume hydrofracking already on hold in New York and no guarantees the state will be ready to issue permits in 2012, will Cuomo even touch the controversial topic?
“I have no idea,” Hang said. “He should mention it, because it’s one of the most important issues facing New York.”
Chances of Cuomo devoting any substantive time to hydrofracking in his speech appear slim. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has already conceded that funds for additional gas-drilling regulators won’t be included in Cuomo’s budget proposal, which will be unveiled later this month.
The individual protesters have a variety of demands, ranging from a withdrawal of the Department of Environmental Conservation’s hydrofracking recommendations to an all-out ban of the technique used with gas drilling.
Hang, meanwhile, is getting to know the Capitol and its environs quite well, having organized a handful of protests in Albany over the past two years. When a pair of state troopers came over to voice concern about clogging up the hallway, they knew Hang on a first-name basis.
Protesters packed a bus from the Southern Tier up to Albany this morning, and others were in town from New York City, Cooperstown and the Capital Region.
“Any State of the State speech is full of grand accomplishments the incumbent is proud of,” said Wes Gillingham, program director of Sullivan County-based Catskill Mountainkeeper. “But as we listen to that, there’s this thing (hydrofracking) that has not been dealt with. There’s so much more information that needs to be gathered, and the (DEC) document that we got is still fatally flawed and in no way protects New York from hydrofracking.”
Numerous hydrofracking questions remain unanswered in Tier
Locally, anticipation is growing that the state Department of Environmental Conservation will begin issuing permits for natural gas extraction through horizontal hydraulic fracturing in 2012.
For some municipal governments in the mineral-rich region, that means it's time to prepare for an influx of heavy truck traffic, socioeconomic changes and the arrival of new and unfamiliar industrial activity.
Others -- most recently, the City of Binghamton -- have taken a different tack.
"I think we're grossly unprepared," said Binghamton Mayor Matthew T. Ryan, who is backing a proposed two-year ban on hydrofracking within city limits.
Bans on hydrofracking have swept across Otsego and Tompkins counties in recent months, but have mostly remained on the outskirts of the area considered to hold the most potential for natural gas drilling.
A ban in Binghamton would change that.
Scott Kurkoski, an attorney for Levene Gouldin & Thompson, said there's "no rational basis for the city to have a ban," and it could dampen potential economic growth once drilling takes hold.
"If the City of Binghamton is to ban drilling, then when these opportunities come to New York, companies will not want to establish their businesses in the city," he said. "And that's true whether they're oil and gas companies, or all of the other service companies that work with the oil and gas companies"
Bans debated
Kurkoski and other ban opponents say the stipulations under DEC's proposed regulatory framework for water use would prohibit drilling within the city's borders.
Additionally, state law forbids municipal governments from regulating mineral extraction. Pending lawsuits over fracking bans in the towns of Dryden, in Tompkins County, and Middlefield, in Otsego County, are expected to settle the issue in court.
Nevertheless, Ryan cited concerns about wastewater disposal, road use and water contamination -- and urban drilling that has taken hold in Fort Worth, Texas -- as ample reason to hold off.
"We want to make sure our community is safe," Ryan said.
A ban could result in a potential liability to landowners who own parcels near or in the city who want to sign leases, said Dan Fitzsimmons, president of the Joint Landowners Coalition.
"If we were to get a deal, and if they were to be in a (production) unit or have a chance to be in a unit -- and now with this happening with the ban -- is (Binghamton) going to pay them for their mineral rights?" he said.
Other municipalities might face pressure to contemplate a ban as well.
A petition that now bears hundreds of signatures is being circulated for a hydrofracking ban in Vestal, where a coalition of landowners interested in signing leases represents about one third of the land in the town.
Sue Rapp, co-founder of Vestal Residents for Safe Energy, said the group questions the wisdom of allowing the activity in the town.
"We are now exploring this possibility with the town board, the zoning board and other Vestal residents about how to control through zoning a potentially dangerous and disruptive industrial development," Rapp said.
Some say the bans are an eleventh-hour effort to undercut state regulations in the months before permits are issued.
But, Walter Hang, president of Ithaca-based Toxics Targeting and one of the leading opponents of the DEC's proposed regulatory guidelines, said the bans are a sign of an increasingly strong anti-drilling movement.
"Now, suddenly, you've got those areas saying 'we don't want to be guinea pigs,'" he said. "I think that really begins to focus the public's concerns in the Southern Tier that they don't want to be the DEC's learning experience."
Road use
State environmental conservation law gives the DEC near-total control of regulation for oil and gas extraction, leaving only taxation and local road protections in the hands of municipal governments.
The latter has attracted the close attention of municipal leaders in the run-up to potential natural gas drilling.
Hydraulically fracturing, a typical well can require up to 1,340 truckloads of liquid hauling, in addition to extra traffic from other sources, Broome County Attorney William Gibson said at a recent forum on the issue.
"The experience in other areas has been that this high volume can result in significant damages to local highways, bridges and culverts," he said.
Broome County took the lead last year when it enacted a measure to protect its 343 miles of county-owned roads.
Under the county law, operators of vehicles that are oversized or weigh more than 80,000 pounds can either obtain a special hauling permit for each trip of every vehicle that uses county roads, or arrive at a road use maintenance agreement with the county.
Local governments have also begun to work on road use laws, but few have been approved.
Some towns, such as the Town of Windsor, plan on working directly with the gas companies on road use maintenance agreements that hold gas companies responsible for road repairs.
Winsor has already had experience using this model during the construction of a 9 1/2-mile length of the Laser Pipeline.
The Town of Dickinson -- a small, suburban community with few leased parcels -- passed a road use law this year under which trucks with more than three axles will have to obtain a permit to travel on more than 100 miles of town roads over any five-day period.
The Town of Fenton has commissioned Delta Engineering for a road study, but has not passed an ordinance yet.
Waiting game
Will the Southern Tier see natural gas drilling in 2012?
Like just about every question that has arisen in New York's 3 1/2-year debate, it depends who you ask.
"From what we've been told, definitely," Fitzsimmons said. "They've repeatedly come back and said that they're going to have this done and there will be permits going out by the end of this spring (or) early summer. It looks like DEC is going to keep us on track, and I think it's going to happen."
Hang is equally certain that won't be the case.
"I just can't envision how the governor is going to say 'we're keeping all these regulatory exemptions in place that only benefit the gas industry; we're not going to deal with this massive staffing inadequacy problem; we're going to just keep plowing ahead, saying that everything is honky-dory despite all the withering criticism,'" Hang said.
A public hearing on Binghamton's ban will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Binghamton City Council Chambers, and council could vote on the ban the same day.
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EPA links fracking to groundwater pollution in Wyoming
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced for the first time Thursday that hydraulic fracturing may be to blame for causing groundwater pollution. And predictably, the reaction in the Southern Tier fell along the long-held beliefs of environmentalists and pro-drillers.
In announcing its findings, the EPA said chemicals likely associated with hydro-fracturing were detected in the groundwater beneath Pavillion, a small community in central Wyoming, where residents had claimed their well water reeked of chemicals. Health officials advised residents last year not to drink the water after the EPA detected low levels of hydrocarbons in their wells.
Upon hearing the news, local anti-drilling advocates immediately raised "I told you so" red flags, while an elected official and landowner urged caution before jumping to conclusions when little is known about the Wyoming incident.
"I'm sure the opposition to drilling will try to run with this," said Marchie Diffendorf, a Kirkwood landowner and Broome County legislator. "Lots of questions need to be answered. What were the techniques? Casings? Cementings? What precautions were taken to prevent pollution?"
The federal report emphasized the findings were specific to Pavillion, saying the fracking that occurred in Pavillion differed from methods used elsewhere with different geological characteristics, including the Marcellus Shale.
The fracking in Pavillion occurred below the level of the drinking water aquifer and close to water wells, according to the EPA. Elsewhere, drilling is remote and fracking occurs deeper than the level of groundwater.
Still, the fact the finding comes from the federal agency entrusted with protecting the environment is cause enough for concern, regardless of differences between Wyoming and the Marcellus Shale, according to anti-drilling advocates.
"(EPA) certainly lends a lot of credence to the claim that we need to investigate this much more deeply than we have," said David Currie, director of the Binghamton Regional Sustainability Coalition. "One would hope that the industry reacts positively in the sense that they begin to correct the most egregious of their mistakes."
EPA officials said their announcement is the first step in a process of opening its findings for review by the public and other scientists.
"EPA's highest priority remains ensuring that Pavillion residents have access to safe drinking water," said Jim Martin, a regional administrator in Denver. "We look forward to having these findings in the draft report informed by a transparent and public review process."
An energy company official said Thursday the highly localized report from Wyoming cannot be used as an all-inclusive condemnation of proposed fracking in New York state.
"Those opposed to drilling always say whenever something goes wrong we should not drill in New York," said Dennis Holbrook, of Norse Energy's field office in Norwich. "There's thousands of wells without problems. Too many examples are taken out of context against drilling."
Encana, of Canada, owns the Pavillion gas field. An announced $45 million sale to Midland, Texas-based Legacy Reserves fell through last month amid concerns about the EPA investigation.
Encana spokesman Doug Hock questioned the report.
"Those (contaminants) could just have likely been brought about by contamination in their sampling process or construction of their well," Hock said.
EPA officials knew the Wyoming report would reverberate to the Southern Tier, arguably ground zero of New York's debate on hydro-fracking.
Some upstate residents and politicians argue the gas industry will bring desperately needed jobs, while others demand a ban on fracking to protect water supplies. Department of Environmental Conservation regulators are yet to decide whether to issue permits for gas drilling with high-volume hydraulic fracturing.
Two highly outspoken local opponents predicted the Wyoming report would play a role in the regional debate.
"We had an industry running around saying there's never been a case of pollution," said Wes Gillingham, director of Catskill Mountainkeeper. "We knew they'd find chemical in ground water ... It's very significant in debunking the line that industry has been using to say it's safe."
Agreed, said Walter Hang, an Ithaca-based anti-drilling advocate.
"It's very, very useful that EPA is now urging caution about going forward without adequate safeguards," Hang said. "Similar things could happen if New York state approves drilling; groundwater could be polluted."
Associated Press writers Mead Gruver, Colleen Slevin and Mary Esch contributed to this report.
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