Democratic state Sens. Cecilia Tkaczyk and Tony Avella put out a joint upstate-downstate statement on New York City officials’ concerns that hydrofracking could disturb the series of aquifers that supply drinking water for the metropolis, even with the significant buffer zones that would protect the city’s watershed from the practice.
They do not miss the opportunity to draw attention to Bloomberg News’ report on state DEC’s study of the potential seismic effects of fracking, which was led by an expert who has done work for the drilling industry (and, as the story notes, for anti-fracking organizations as well).
The two lawmakers have sent a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and DEC Commissioner Joe Martens:
Joint Letter Re DEC Seismology Study by
Their accompanying statement:
One of the things that connects upstate and downstate is the flow of our precious water from the upstate reservoirs to the downstate tap. As Senators who are connected together by the New York City aqueduct infrastructure, we are alarmed by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s recent comments on the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation proposed regulations. The DEP details serious concerns about the threat that fracking-induced earthquakes and seismic activity pose to New York City’s water supply. We are very alarmed to learn that the man behind the DEC’s seismology study has ties to the oil and gas industry and a history of producing discredited science that was apparently influenced by that industry. New Yorkers deserve answers about the conflict of interest behind the state’s seismology study. The gas industry has a long history of denying the truth about the impacts of fracking, and we cannot put our water and safety in the hands of someone with such a conflict of interest. We call for the immediate public release of the DEC’s seismology study and all associated documents, and that no decision be made about allowing fracking in New York State until the concerns and questions outlined in our joint letter are thoroughly addressed.”
Proposterous nonsense.
The letter by the four senators raises excellent questions and identifies a significant concern of the public as to how secretive the regulation approval became in the fall when the regulations were trotted out before anyone, including the legislature, had seen the so-called “health impact” study which DEC apparently belatedly did after the public requested a full health risk assessment following the issuance of the SCOPE and the first two drafts of the SGEIS.
To compound matters, DEC then opened and closed the comment period on the regulations with the SGEIS, including the incomplete health study, still not avavailable to anyone. Since the regulations were to be based on the SGEIS, how can anyone claim that the process used was reasonable, fair, or even legal?
Thanks to all four Senators for their efforts on behalf of all of us in NYS.
The DEC has been woefully behind in their attention to seismic activity in relation to HVHF. The last publicly available draft of the SGEIS did not even use the most updated maps of the state’s underground faults, a fact that was pointed out by numerous people during the public comment period and hearings. Faults are well-known as a mechanism for migration of substances underground and have caused both methane and fluid migration in other states. Questions surrounding faults and seismic activity encompasses the whole state, not just the area near NYC’s aqueducts.
The city’s Department of Environmental Protection hired an excellent engineering firm, Hazen and Sawyer, and went to great lengths to assess the SGEIS and regulations. I saw them testify at a hearing in NYC about their numerous concerns with regard to the SGEIS, a hearing which the DEC didn’t even bother to attend. The DEC’s lack of respect for independent science has been glaring at every step of the review process.
The four head ANTI-JOBS Monster
They and “Others” are bent on keeping all those good paying jobs out of the hands of Up State New Yorkers who badly need them.
They and all the “OTHERS” from Hollywood to Montauk need to be “Happy with Fracking”
VJ Machiavelli
What are “ties” to an industry? These folks want full disclousre and all we get are accusations about “ties”?
Where have they been? Jacobi was appointed one year ago, and has finished his report. Now, if your true concern was honest science, and you felt this way, you’d go public as soon as the appointment was made.
On the other hand, if all you really want to do is delay, delay, and then delay, you wait, and wait, then pop this as the report is about to come out. Oh, and good luck finding geologists expert in seismicity with no prior contact with the oil and gas industry.
I just read the the work of the three health experts hired by the State to review the so-called health impact study was done weeks ago. So what were Dr. Shah and Mr. Martens doing in their testimony which made us think the work was still on going? Since this fall there have been way too many secrets, improper process, and misleading statements.
I want to say a big THANK YOU to Cecila Tkacyzk, Terry Gipson and Tony Avella for this comprehensive set of concerns that many New Yorkers have been asking. The fact that there is NO SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE to prove WHY these so called “regulations” were written the way they are.(SGEIS Regulation – Section 560.4-Setbacks (a) No well pad or portion of a well pad may be located:(1) within 500 feet from a residential water well, domestic supply spring or water well or spring used as a water supply for livestock or crops)
“First of all 500 feet of setback doesn’t stop the wells from horizontally hydro-fracking in the areas this is suppose to protect. Horizontal hydrofracking can drill as much a a mile in any direction. So how
does the 500 feet setback help anyone? This is a mere attempt at regulating, when in fact it doesn’t provide any regulations at all. But instead we will see fracking happen near fields, vineyards, or orchards,paddocks, feeding pens, chicken coops, stables, silos, greenhouses, milking parlors, or barns,sugar shacks, sorting and packing buildings, canneries, creameries, granaries, wineries, And we are to eat the food from these places??? This “regulation” will kill New Yorkers!
As usual, we see the intellectual depth of the Repub/Tea party commenters -
Mitch simply calls this “Proposterous nonsense” without any explanation why.
Machiavelli (& I appreciate that your name acknowledges that the Repub/Tea party is Machiavellian) calls the senators the “ANTI-JOBS Monster”. Should we destroy the environment, pollute our drinking water, worsen Climate Change, all for jobs? There is no reason to do so, because the best JOBS producer would be to develop CLEAN Energy – Solar, Wind, Geothermal. We can tax the Rich, close Corporate Loopholes, tax pollution, and fund development of CLEAN Energy jobs in upstate NY.
“Let’s take our time on Fracking”
Fracking is an issue that needs to have total transparency and a little less pressure with “the meter is running’ and we just have to move on and get started with Fracking, is really counterproductive when the safety issues about Fracking are still being weighed and understood by the best Scientists out there. I vote for a go slow approach and let’s make sure we do it right when it comes to Fracking, NYS and its citizens have a lot to lose if we get the science wrong and severely damage our aquifer system with Fracking and its accompanying problems. Let’s avoid the problems and get the benefits of cheaper energy and job creation, but we have to move slowly in order to get it right. I think these Senators are right on the money.
Mike Flynn ‘Middle Class Mike’
Told you so. Tkaczyk was bought and paid for by nyc.
Her first public action as senator was alongside nyc.
Deal with it.
the SGEIS comment period is closed.
What’s next? A NY lawsuit suing the states of Ohio and Pennsylvania for hydrofracking too close to the NY state border?
DEC and Comm. Martens in particular continue to ignored information from NYC DEP’s report. A SEVEN MILE setback for NYC’s watershed was requested due to many faults in the area(and found in all of NYS – the 1977 fault map found in Ch 4 of the SGEIS is another farce where brittle structure from the original 1977 map were removed!). Joe Martens responded to Assemblyman Robert Sweeney’s questioning at an Oct. 6, 2011 hearing as to why NYC was only given a 4,000′ setback by stating that “We have a difference of opinion.” Not a very scientific answer from a man who is responsible for FULLY protecting our clean water resources. There is no science to show that a 500′ buffer will protect private water wells either. Thank you Senators for seeking sound science and challenging the one-sided SGEIS-gas-industry report, and DEC’s “faulty” and flawed process of pushing gas extraction in NYS.
HVHF has been performed for 60 years with no adverse effect. Isn’t the point of having the DEC evaluate and regulate as experts in the field of environmental science. The anti’s like to throw mud at this process and see what sticks. Cecilia Tkaczyk won from massive downstate money and now she is repaying them back by taking this anti position. The downstate regions wants nothing to do with gas development, not because of any alleged environmental issue, but to stop the transfer of power to upstate once the money from drilling starts rolling in.
When shale is hydro-fracked, the crack created does not respect property boundaries or have the intelligence to know when it has gone too far. There was a huge increase in earthquakes in Ohio where the used fluids are stored. When a homeowner less than a quarter of a mile from me “fracked” for a well, he managed to destroy several in the neighborhood overnight. No one can “control” this process adequately enough to prevent damage to bordering lands. New York has water, lots of pure, pure water. If we protect that we’ll have a far more valuable resource, one that can be sold without destroying the environment, both locally and globally.
Jobs at any cost creates environments such as Behjing now enjoys.
Don’t kid yourself that anti-fracking people aren’t all over New York State.
Some NYS Reps still have a brain, and a measure of Integrity.
Surprising, but welcome. Good to know. ‘Fracking’ is Insanity.
Can you say, “Foregone Conclusion”? How could a presidential aspirant ever let facts and science get in the way?
Does everything revolve around NYC with these reprobates? YES.
These 4 politicians are liars. They are not concerned about the science behind the SGEIS. They and their supporters have already made up their minds that fracking is bad and they will not contemplate any study that says otherwise. They lack the scientific background necessary to understand the issues and should stay out of the matter. I’m a geologist with absolutely no ties to the oil and gas industry and I’m tired of non-experts shooting their mouths off. The environmental movement in this country gains power by creating controversy and they are as guilty of capitalistic greed as anyone else. Their motives are not pure and they are as biased as that of the oil and gas industry. We’ve studied this issue to death. These processes have been in use for over 80 years in other parts of the country (try talking to geologists in California). Will there be problems? Yes, but they’ll be isolated and well beyond reasonable precautions have been proposed to minimize how often problems occur. I’m tired of this country being held hostage by a bunch of possibly well-intentioned people with math and science IQ’s of a 5th grader. Governor Cuomo should approve fracking and stop straddling the fence merely for fear it will affect his chances of getting elected.
We should certainly not do anything neighboring states are already doing to lower taxes and create jobs, the answer is to hire more public sector workers and continue to raise taxes.
I guess her two rick friends are already pulling her strings!
You know that Landlords are supposed to put security deposits in interest bearing accounts. Why not have the requirements include a security deposit guaranteeing against damages? SCrew up and your deposit is forfeited. Make sure the Deposit is ironclad and none of this, We ARe Bankrupt business. The deposit would be another form of investment for companies that do it right. Do nothing and the NY State economy goes to pot. Frack but make sure its done right. I say invest in any and all energy sources. Promote solar, wind, geothermal and even tidal as well as fracking. A state that uses its energy sources wisely will be a state that can do well by its people.
“When shale is hydro-fracked, the crack created does not respect property boundaries or have the intelligence to know when it has gone too far”
Twopondsnorth, the same can be said of the environmentalists who keep restating minor issues with the sole purpose of delaying. This is a local issue so let the locals decide for themselves.
No Ed 12309, you are quite wrong. If you actually do some research you will find HVHF was first used in the mid-1990s in the Barnett shale play in Texas, and its first “commercially successful” use in Marcellus shale was in 2004 in West Virginia. HF was first used in the late 1940s to extract gas and oil. And yes, if you do some research you will find pollution from HF too.
Actually, the old NIMBY attitude is in full effect here. There is more support downstate for fracking because they’ll receive the benefits without any of the impacts. However, much of the vapid and visceral hatred/fear of fracking does come from highly vocal NYC types. It amazes me that fracking opponents are able to gain any traction saying DEC is biased. If anything, DEC is biased towards protecting the environment. Environmentalists will trash anyone that doesn’t agree with their rhetoric and it’s high time Society starts demanding truth from the environmental movement. They have an important role to play, balancing against all out business interests, but the environmental movement has evolved into a money and power hungry force that will adopt any tactic to get its way, whether it’s factual or not.
Voice Of Treason – the reason that “everything revolves around NYC” in the comments from Repub/Tea partiers like AlbanyCommonSense, is because they have to have a scapegoat. In order to keep the Working Class 99% divided, the Corporate Elite 1% has historically used bigotry to pit Working Class people against each another, all as a distraction from the fact that we are being ripped off by the Corporate Elite 1%. So “NYC” is code for the stereotype of Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Jews, Gays who the Repub/Tea partiers try to portray as different from upstate (read, white, christian, straight) people.
And of course we know that there is massive opposition to Fracking here in upstate NY, and Tkaczyk is representing her constituents instead of the Gas Corporations.
Notice that those who disparage Tkaczyk et al. present no facts to dispute their allegations of a major conflict of interest. All they do is sling mud.
Hydrofracking is currently being done in many places throughout the US, so real data is available.
Many of the comments here are misleading or confusing. My simple question the opponents is this–”Is there any state of facts that would allow you to accept fracking”?
Because if the answer is “No”, just say so, and stop pretending your opposition is fact based. You don’t want the risk of any enviromental damage–that’s OK. No one will ever come out with a study that eliminates all risk.