At Public Hearings on Fracking Proposals, NY Water Rangers Call on Gov Cuomo & DEC to Slow the Rush to Drill

ALBANY, NY (11/16/2011)(readMedia)-- Environmental, health and community groups gathered today in Dansville for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's (DEC) first public hearing on the revised draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS), the document that could guide industrial gas drilling by means of high volume hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, if it's permitted. The groups, which represent national, state-based and local interests with regard to fracking, agree that the state must extend the public comment period by 90 days.

"Giving the public such a limited window of opportunity to weigh in on what is likely the most significant environmental issue New York has ever faced is unfair and unreasonable, particularly when so much is at stake for New York taxpayers. How can people express their concerns when key information about the negative socioeconomic effects of fracking is still missing from DEC's environmental review?" said Kate Hudson, Riverkeeper Watershed Program Director.

"New Yorkers are speaking up loud and clear that they want to protect their families' health, and air, land and water resources from industrial gas development," said Brian Smith, CCE Program & Communications Director. "We need Governor Cuomo and the DEC to put public need over corporate greed and slow the rush to drill."

"As the public comment period commences, the DEC must recognize that the process they have adopted in submitting the draft GEIS for public comment piecemeal and together with regulations which are incomplete is legally flawed. It is premature and violates due process. The draft also contains material misstatements of fact such as false claims that these are the best regulations in the country and that economic benefits warrant the risk. Most other states have better regulations on setbacks, home rule and taxation and the economic benefits touted by the Cuomo administration were calculated without consideration of costs or risks while based on false projections of the amount of gas reserves found in the Marcellus. The draft also contains a host of material omissions. Most notably the lack of health impacts analysis, lack of cumulative impacts analysis, lack of methane leakage analysis, lack of fracking waste disposal analysis, among many others. If this were an Enron financial statement, Attorney General Cuomo would have prosecuted them. Now that he is Governor and the DEC reports to him, he pretends he doesn't know what the duty to offer full, complete disclosure is. This is an embarrassment to his legacy. The industry consultants driving this process have stabbed Governor Cuomo in the back by urging him to follow a failed course and they have given our DEC, which has done so much good for New York, a huge black eye for being associated with a blatantly improper process. A process lacking in fundamental fairness will never be accepted. The draft must be withdrawn," said Nicole Dillingham, Otsego 2000, Inc., of Cooperstown, New York.

The Dansville hearing is the first of four scheduled public hearings on the SGEIS and proposed regulations. Hearings are also scheduled in Binghamton (11/17), Loch Sheldrake (11/29), and New York City (11/30).

"Governor Cuomo and other officials have said that science and safety will determine New York's decision on whether and how to develop shale gas, and that the state could be a model," said Nadia Steinzor of Earthworks Oil and Gas Accountability Project. "But the draft guidelines and regulations are full of holes, and unless those are fixed, New York will be like all the other states that have failed their citizens in the quest for dirty energy."

At the hearings, representatives of the groups pointed out critical defects in the state's proposals to guide fracking, such no real analysis of the negative economic and health impacts of drilling, failure to ban the use of known toxic chemicals, and no plans for the disposal of hazardous waste. The New York Water Rangers released a list of 'Top 10' flaws in the state's fracking review earlier this year.

The revised draft SGEIS was released on September 7, 2011. The purpose of this document is to inform the Governor and the state's decision-making with regard to fracking. On September 28, 2011, the state released draft fracking regulations and a draft fracking Clean Water Act permit for simultaneous review. The state's current plan puts an unreasonable burden on New Yorkers, who are now expected to simultaneously review the draft regulations released today, as well as the 1,500+ page SGEIS. The simultaneous review will be particularly challenging for those living in areas impacted by flooding, whose communities are likely to see drilling.

The organizations continue to call on Governor Cuomo and the DEC to extend the current public comment period, which closes on December 12th, by 90 days and to include at least two additional public hearings in Upstate New York, particularly in communities impacted by recent flooding.

"A mere 96 days to review a highly technical document that weighs in at nearly 2,000 pages is simply unfair," said Katherine Nadeau, Water & Natural Resources Program Director, Environmental Advocates of New York. "We're calling on Governor Cuomo and the Department of Environmental Conservation to put on the brakes and give New Yorkers the time we need and deserve before our state is transformed by fracking at the scale proposed."

To frack a gas well, millions of gallons of water, sand and toxic chemicals are pumped deep underground at high pressure. This fractures the rock that has trapped the gas for millennia and allows it to escape. From start to finish, gas development that relies on fracking is an industrial process that threatens our water. State after state, from Wyoming to Pennsylvania, has documented its dangers. New York can't afford to put short-term gas profits ahead of the long-term health of our water and our communities.

-30-

The New York Water Rangers campaign is supported by a network of organizations working to protect the rights and health of New Yorkers and one of our most precious environmental resources-water-from the dangers of irresponsible, poorly regulated and under-inspected natural gas exploration and development. The campaign is supported by Catskill Mountainkeeper, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Earthjustice, EARTHWORKS Oil & Gas Accountability Project, Environmental Advocates of New York, Environment New York, FLEASED, Natural Resources Defense Council, Otsego 2000 and Riverkeeper. Visit www.CleanWaterNotDirtyDrilling.org to learn more.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Erica Ringewald, Environmental Advocates of New York, (518) 210-9903

Brian Smith, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, (716) 472-4078

Tina Posterli, Riverkeeper, (914) 478-4501 x 239

Nadia Steinzor, Earthworks, (315) 677-4111

Nicole Dillingham, Otsego 2000, 917 434 7241