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Environmentalists: Revise Gas Drilling Review? Nope – Repeal It!
From page 194 of the environmental review: "These photos show a hydraulic fracturing operation at a Fortuna Energy multiwell site in Troy, PA"
There's nearly a month left in a public comment period for an environmental review of natural gas drilling in New York, but environmentalists have gone beyond requesting changes to the document -- they're asking that it be repealed all together.
Catskill Mountainkeeper, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and a coalition of 26 environmental organizations have teamed up and asked Gov. David Paterson to repeal the Department of Environmental Conservation's draft environmental review. (You can see the letter, sent yesterday, here [1] and our story about the DEC review here [2]). They're especially concerned about the environmental damage that might be caused by the drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing [3], which uses a mixture of water, sand and chemicals to extract deeply buried gas deposits.
"This is not a purely theoretical risk. The use of hydraulic fracturing has led to known or suspected contamination in water supplies across the country, including right next door in Pennsylvania," the letter reads.
The 800-plus page draft review examines the effects of drilling in the Marcellus Shale, which stretches beneath New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. Drilling in New York's portion of the Marcellus has been on hold pending the review, but environmentalists say the draft raises more questions than it answers. In its letter to Paterson, the coalition says the review fails to address the cumulative impacts of drilling, include a meaningful assessment of alternatives, consider the possibility of contamination of drinking water supplies, and fully assess the potential for air quality, traffic and noise impacts.
The group is asking Paterson to tell DEC to set aside the review, put a 12-month moratorium on issuing new drilling permits, and work with experts from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to create a new environmental impact statement.
"In sum, we believe that how you handle this issue will largely determine the environmental and public health legacy of your first Administration," the letter to Paterson says. "We urge you in good faith -- and with every hope of an environmentally sustainable and successful Paterson Administration -- to provide the leadership this situation requires."
Walter Hang, of the New York environmental database firm Toxics Targeting, began circulating a petition with similar requests about a month ago. So far, about 4,500 people have signed it.
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Univ. Meeting Reviews Environmental Impact
As time runs out to comment on the draft of the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement for Oil and Gas Mining through horizontal drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing, Walter Hang, president of Toxics Targeting, made a passionate plea last night to kill the draft of the SGEIS altogether.
The proposed draft of the SGEIS is supposed to cover any environmental impact that was not addressed in the original 1992 Oil, Gas and Solution Mining Generic Impact Statement. The new draft covers the environmental impacts that could result from drilling into the Marcellus Shale using horizontal drilling and high-volume hydraulic-fracturing techniques.
“If we avoid the drilling now, we can prevent problems. It’s not like in Wyoming [or] California where they have hundreds of problems. Tompkins County doesn’t have irreparable problems now but if this goes forward we’re probably cooked,” Hang said.
Hang outlined several ways that the dSGEIS is insufficient in mitigating environmental impacts and protecting the health of people living in New York in a coalition letter that he hopes to deliver to Governor David Paterson (D-N.Y) in the next four weeks. Chief among them is the fact the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has been unable to properly prevent hazardous oil or gas spills, let alone clean them up sufficiently. According to Hang, Toxics Targeting has found 270 incidences of oil or gas spills that caused fires, contaminated drinking water sources, and severally degraded farmdrinking water sources, and severally degraded farmland. Worse, of these 270 spills, 65 did not meet clean-up standards according to the letter.
The coalition letter highlights five areas that were not sufficiently addressed in the dSGEIS: wastewater runoff from horizontal drilling, reporting and liability concerns, dedicated oil and natural gas spill remediation funds, the use of private insurance to clean up environmental damage caused by drilling and understaffing at the DEC to monitor the well sites. The letter states there are already 7,000 gas drilling sites in the state, but only 17 inspectors to monitor them.
So far, Hang claims that 4,500 people have signed the letter indicating they would like the Governor to withdraw the dSGEIS. Hang said that Paterson is in an especially vulnerable position right now given that his poll numbers are down and the recent debacle over raising car license plate fees.
Hang gave one example of a gas spill that significantly impacted Freedom, N.Y. forcing 12 families to evacuate as a result of natural gas escaping through fault in shale, stemming a Dale Fox drilling gas well. In this spill, natural gas traveled over 8,000 feet in minutes and actually started leaking into one homeowner’s basement that was built on the shale.
Though Hang admitted he had limited success in implementing large-scale environmental reform in the past, he said the breakthrough for him came in 2003 when he was able to assist in stalling a $31 billion energy bill that would have exempt energy companies from $30 million in liability if it has passed. Energy companies would have been protected from any lawsuits stemming from product defects related to a gasoline addictive.
“I believe that unless this dSGEIS is withdrawn, I think we’re doomed. I think it would be adopted really quickly after the comment period is over and then the drilling permits would be issued,” Hang said. “Once drilling permits are issued god knows where the water will go.”
Each well used for drilling is expected to require three to five million gallons of water in order to fracture the shale and release the natural gas.
Others were skeptical of Hang’s plea for everyone to sign the coalition letter. Prof. Larry Brown, department chair of earth and atmospheric sciences, questioned whether people should be signing the coalition letter if they have not fully read the 800-page dSGEIS.
He said, “We argue that the energy position should be considered but the energy source should be used responsibly. If you’re not going to use Marcellus Shale, it will come from somewhere ... Are we so special that we can ignore that and let other people deal with that problem? Responsible drilling and responsible oversight are critical and I have problems with signing something I haven't seen.”
Michael Ristorucci, coordinator of Palante responded, “You have to read that 800-page with a grain of salt. The goal is to become aware of it, but also understand that environmental regulations have historically been under implemented.”
Ryan Clover, one of the leading organizers of Shaleshock Citizens Action Alliance also spoke at last night’s talk, discussing strategies that the group is using to raise awareness about this issue. Among one of they key strategies is to build a broad coalition of various people and skills. Clover cautions that Shaleshock is not just an environmental campaign, but rather a movement.
Clover touched upon the importance of reaching out just beyond environmental groups for this cause.
‘It can’t be just one group. We can’t be marginalized as just environmentalists that don’t want any kind of industry. You have to look at the broader context and that it's a social issue that affects everyone,” he said.
Last night’s talk was sponsored by Palante (Proyecto Palante and Palante Salsa en Rueda Dance Troupe), KyotoNOW!, New World Agriculture and Ecology Group, Shaleshock Citizens Action Alliance. The event was in part financed by Graduate and Professional Student Assembly.
Ithaca firm petitions to extend moratorium
Walter Hang of Toxics Targeting in Ithaca was scrounging Monday for celebrities to enlist in his fight against gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale.
"Anybody know the Dalai Lama?" he said to a group gathered in the Women's Community Building Monday evening. "Anybody know Richard Gere?"
Hang and the group of about 100 area residents were forming a battle plan against the state Department of Environmental Conservation's proposed Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, which, if adopted by the state, would allow a de facto moratorium on horizontal hydraulic fracturing to end in New York.
The draft document suggests new requirements to add to state regulations established in 1992 to govern gas drilling. However, Hang said, neither the added regulations or the original regulations are adequate to protect New York residents from pollution due to gas drilling.
The draft statement was released at the end of September, and Hang is organizing a grassroots opposition movement to kill the proposal within 40 days, when the comment period is set to end.
"There are 15,000 existing wells (in New York state)," he said. "We have had these wells for decades and decades. There only about seven wells that go into the Marcellus formation. The state of New York has said literally for years that they have never even had a problem, but that turns out not to be true."
He went on to cite examples of drinking water polluted beyond acceptable drinking standards, though the private and public wells it came from were placed farther than the required distance from natural gas wells.
"The bottom line is the government is not safeguarding your health and your safe environment, and this is the proof," he said.
Hang, whose company maintains databases of pollution sites, is circulating a petition to have the governor withdraw the proposal, thereby allowing the moratorium on drilling permits to continue, and allowing more time to push for stronger environmental cleanup protections. He urged the group to help gather more signatures for the petition, which has drawn nearly 2,000 supporters in the past 10 days, he said.
The petition calls for a ban on discharging hydraulic fracturing wastewater to publicly owned treatment works and a review of deep-well injection of wastewater, a revision of state-required reporting of uncontrolled oil and gas releases, a dedicated state oil and gas drilling remediation fund to take care of "orphan sites" left by drilling companies, increased staffing of the state Department of Environmental Conservation, and protection for citizens' private right of action against drilling companies.
Linda Lavine of Ellis Hollow, who signed the petition Monday, said most of her neighbors have signed leases with oil and gas companies to drill for natural gas on their land.
"Even those who signed leases should be happy with what you're doing," she said, "because even if they want this to eventually go forward, they should want these protections in place."
Town of Ithaca board member Rich DePaolo, who also has signed the petition, said: "I agree with (Hang's) proposal, and I intend to do something at the town level. From what I'm hearing, I think the process is being railroaded. I think the moratorium should be extended" to allow the adoption of stronger regulations.
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Ithacans Voice Drilling Concerns
A public hearing concerning regulatory measures for horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing for the local Marcellus Shale natural gas resource was held at the State Theater in Ithaca last night, the topic of discussion: the draft of the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (dSGEIS). While local Ithacans criticized both the proposed plan as well as the drilling in general, Department for Environmental Conservation (DEC), the government agency responsible for the draft, would only listen to critiques of the document itself.
Prior to the hearing, concerned citizens of the area held a rally in the commons petitioning Gov. Paterson (D-N.Y.) to prohibit horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing at least until the Environmental Protection Agency study on water contamination found both practices to be safe.
Although tapping into Upstate New York’s resources to drill for natural gas is not a new phenomenon, previously only vertical drilling has been allowed. Horizontal drilling involves drilling 2,000 to 5,000 feet deep into the Marcellus Shale, and then drilling for as much as one mile horizontally. The hydraulic fracturing component includes blasting three to five million gallons of a mixture of water, chemicals and sand into the wells to fracture the shale and release the gas.What the frack?: Ithacans gather on the Commons yesterday to protest the potential use of a natural gas-drilling technique called hydrofracking, which they said would contaminate ground water.What the frack?: Ithacans gather on the Commons yesterday to protest the potential use of a natural gas-drilling technique called hydrofracking, which they said would contaminate ground water.
The hot debate involving such drilling contrasts the benefit of greater yields-per-well of natural gas against the potential contamination of the local water supply due to the toxic chemicals and lack of adequate environmental research and regulation. Natural gas, which burns cleaner than fossil fuels, still emits the greenhouse gasses methane and carbon dioxide.
While the issue was brought to the attention of the local community last night, it has long been an issue with which the State of New York has been grappling. Previously, the governor denied horizontal hydraulic fracturing permits to gas companies until the update of the 1992 Generic Environmental Impact Statement, a review of the potential impacts of oil and gas drilling and how they are mitigated. Since the natural gas drilling is exempt from regulations in the Clean Air and Clean Water Act, regulation for natural gas is largely dependant on the Department of Environmental Conservation.
Currently on the table for public comment is a draft of the supplement for the GEIS, which was released on Sept. 31 and directly addresses horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Originally, the DEC was not going to hold any hearings for the public’s response to the draft, but later agreed to hold hearings and extend the public comment period from 30 to 60 days.
“They did finally agree to schedule public hearings, it was basically public pressure that led to that,” said Edward Marx, Tompkins County Commissioner of Planning and Public Works who spoke at the hearing last night.
Tompkins County, however, was left out. “There were four hearings around the state of New York and none in Tompkins County so we thought we’d set one up on our own,” said Martha Roberston, a legislator under the Tompkins County Council of Government.
The hearing provided a forum to educate concerned citizens and allow them to voice their opinions of the SGEIS draft. Those who wished to speak were allotted no more than 3 minutes to convey their message. The whole hearing was transcribed and a copy will be sent to the DEC for consideration, along with written comments from attendees. “It will be given the same weight as if it were an official hearing,” Robertson said.
Although members of the community were happy that such a platform was organized, the discussion was limited to comments on ways to amend regulations for horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the SGEIS draft — not to oppose it entirely.
Walter Hang, from Toxics Targeting an organization opposed to such drilling, commented “the whole premise of the SGEIS is fundamentally flawed, it’s based on the fact that the existing regulations were fine for protecting public health.”
Hang cited numerous examples of oil and gas spills, “there was a gas release in Freedom New York that got into a fracture and traveled 8000 feet and blasted 12 people out of their homes … the regulations need to be revised and that’s not provided for by the SGEIS, that’s why we’re calling on the governor to withdraw it and revise it in order to protect the public from these drilling hazards.”
Many county legislature officials further commented on the inadequacy of the proposed SGEIS. The top concern was the safety of the New York water supply and the lack of the necessary enforcing regulation.
Dominic Frongillo ‘05, council member for the town of Carolina observed that under the proposed SGEIS companies would not have to disclose the chemicals —that are known to include carcinogens and other toxic compounds — used in hydraulic fracturing. Furthermore, inspection and water testing was not made mandatory at every well site.
The Mayor of Ithaca, Caroline Peterson commented that the local waste water plant would be unable to adequately treat the radioactive waste water from hydraulic fracturing.
Many of the regulations in the GEIS draft suggest prudent policies by gas companies but do not mandate them. Ken Zeserson, planning board of Ulysses, noted that one proposed solution to the waste from the drilling was to spread it on local roads, “we have considered it and radioactive road salt is a bad idea,” he joked. He also commented on the fact that counties have virutally no power to resist gas companies or impose regulations on them.
“Considerations of counties at the local level are not taken into account,” said Jennifer Dotson (I-1st), common council for the City of Ithaca. “Normally there are involved agencies one would think the local communities in a township would be considered involved agencies and would get some say but we’re not even notified … we are only notified of the first permit [leasing the land for gas drilling] that goes through.”
The public comment period will last until Dec. 31. The DEC will then respond to the comments and publish the final GEIS. This will be the last word on regulations concerning horizontal drilling and hydrualic fracturing in New York with the exception of intervention by the New York State government.
Events draw out gas-drilling views
ITHACA -- Residents are being invited to add their voices to the controversial conversation about state gas drilling regulations in a series of events Thursday.
The first is a rally, set for the Bernie Milton Pavilion on the Ithaca Commons from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Local and state legislators will take the microphone alongside several environmental experts and a few musical acts.
It will be followed at 7 p.m. by a public hearing at the State Theatre.
Doors will open at 6 p.m., and several ground rules have been set. Those wishing to speak will be expected to sign in, and will be called in the order registered. There will be a three-minute time limit on oral statements, which may be supplemented with written comments.
Hosted by the Tompkins County Council of Governments (TCCOG), the hearing is meant to be a forum in which to collect public comments on the draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (dSGEIS) -- the state's plan to regulate drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus shale underneath Tompkins County and surrounding regions.
The New York Department of Environmental Conservation has held official hearings at various locations throughout the state, but none in Tompkins County, so members of TCCOG decided to stage their own event.
They invited representatives from the DEC to attend, and will forward all comments made at the event to the state agency.
Walter Hang, president of Ithaca-based Toxics Targeting, has also launched a letter-writing campaign urging Gov. David Paterson to withdraw the dSGEIS report, and plans a presentation for 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 23, at the Women's Community Building on West Seneca Street.
Thursday's hearing will be streamed live at www.ithacajournal.com.
Written comments can be submitted through Dec. 31 online at www.dec.ny.gov/cfmx/extapps/SGEISComments.
The DEC document, more than 800 pages long, is available at www.dec.ny.gov/energy/47554.html, and hard copies may be reviewed at the Town of Ithaca offices, the Caroline library, Brookton's Market in Brooktondale, the Tompkins County Public Library, and Ithaca City Hall.
The fourth and final public comment session on the DEC's draft supplemental generic environmental impact statement is scheduled for Wednesday at Corning East High School, 201 Cantigny St., in Corning. Doors open at 6 p.m. for individual questions and speaker sign-up. DEC staff will be available at the start of each session to answer one-on-one questions about the format and contents of the document.
The public comment session will begin at 7 p.m. Those wishing to speak must sign in on arrival and will be called in the order registered. To accommodate as many people as possible, there will be a five-minute limit on oral presentations.