Governor Cuomo is seeking to lift the New York State moratorium on Hydraulic Fracturing, or "Fracking," the New York Times reported today. This calls for action. The lifted ban could quickly lead to upwards of 1000 wells in the 2,300 square mile New York section of the Delaware River Basin, a watershed which supplies drinking water to over half of New York City. The Watershed sits upon the Marcellus Shale, a giant sandstone formation that spans much of Pennsylvania and upper state New York, and contains pockets of natural gas that can be freed by Fracking, the process of pumping millions of gallons of water, unknown chemicals, and sand into deep wells to dissolve the rock and free the natural gas. There is currently a statewide moratorium on Fracking courtesy of governor Patterson, which expires tomorrow, and speculators have been purchasing large amounts of property in anticipation of the Governor's actions.
The New York state Department of Environmental Conservation will release a report tomorrow, the Draft Supplemental Generic Impact Statement (dSGEIS)that will support Fracking with some new caveats, according to a press release today. Among them are limits on what kind of drilling can happen in the Watersheds of New York and Syracuse. The negative effects of Fracking are still being disputed, but what isn't disputed is that the overall process causes significant environmental damage; according to this New York Times article, drilling can contaminate streams and aquifers with natural gas, and the unlisted, patented soup of chemicals are known to contain benzene and 2-Butoxyethanol, both toxins so hazardous to humans that they are measured in parts per million (ppm). And that all assumes that nothing blows up, as was the disastrous case in Bradford County, Pennsylvania in late April, when three workers were killed and a stream and agricultural area were contaminated with fracking contaminated liquids when a well exploded and set fire to a storage area.
It's a small wonder that environmentalists of all political stripes are opposed to Cuomo's plan. New York City currently has some of the cleanest drinking water in the country, so clean that one young entrepreneur is bottling it and selling it at a profit. The New York State Assembly has passed a measure renewing the moratorium. That would at least allow for the EPA's two-year report on fracking to be completed, if not extend the moratorium long enough for the unprofitable fracking to be exposed for the Ponzi-like scheme that it currently is, again according to a major report from the New York Times this week:
The data show that while there are some very active wells, they are often surrounded by vast zones of less-productive wells that in some cases cost more to drill and operate than the gas they produce is worth. Also, the amount of gas produced by many of the successful wells is falling much faster than initially predicted by energy companies, making it more difficult for them to turn a profit over the long run.
If the industry does not live up to expectations, the impact will be felt widely. Federal and state lawmakers are considering drastically increasing subsidies for the natural gas business in the hope that it will provide low-cost energy for decades to come.
But if natural gas ultimately proves more expensive to extract from the ground than has been predicted, landowners, investors and lenders could see their investments falter, while consumers will pay a price in higher electricity and home heating bills.
Governor Cuomo has been gambling on Fracking for over a year when he mentioned it favorably in his energy policy memo on the campaign trail. But even without his support, the state assembly has passed a strong moratorium; the Senate has been stalled pending tomorrow's DEC report.
According to a statement from Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver:
"We would strongly oppose lifting the moratorium. There are simply too many unknowns to risk inflicting long-term, potentially catastrophic damage to New York's environment and water supply. Any action to lift the moratorium is premature and at a minimum, New York should wait until the EPA completes its own study on hydraulic fracturing before even considering whether the state should permit this type of drilling activity."
The fight will carry on through much of August as the DEC takes 60 days of written statements from New York City residents (NO HEARINGS???) In the mean time, if Governor Cuomo can get gay marriage passed, he could easily pass a moratorium on Fracking in the state of New York.
Call Governor Cuomo and tell him that Fracking is unsafe, unprofitable, non-transparent, and understudied, and that you are against its use in New York's pristine and vital ecosystems.
Call Gov. Cuomo right now at (518) 474-8390 and tell him not to lift the moratorium on fracking!
If you get put on hold for hours like me, email him!
http://www.governor.ny.gov/...
A map of New York City's water supply system can be found here.
Twitter UPDATE: please also sign into twitter and retweet the following: @NYGovCuomo ON New York's Plan to lift the Moratorium on Fracking, and what we can do about it:dailykos.com/story/2011/06/…