Kate Sinding's Blog: Curbing Pollution

Pennsylvania’s Natural Gas Regulators Starting to Smell the Coffee?

2010-05-05T02:16:51Z

“Quite frankly, the citizens of this state are being played for chumps."

So said John Quigley, Secretary of Conservation and Natural Resources for Pennsylvania at a Marcellus Shale Policy Conference sponsored over the past two days by Duquesne University and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council.

Said John Hanger, Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection: “Let me be clear: Self regulation doesn't work. That's not contestable. We've made mistakes before. We have to get this right or the costs will overwhelm the benefits.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer described the officials’ comments as “part of a coordinated effort by Gov. Rendell's administration to build public support for the legislature to impose greater oversight on the [gas] industry.”

Sounds like the “what didn’t go wrong?” experience in Dimock and other horror stories from Pennsylvania – where drilling in the Marcellus Shale has been proceeding apace – are starting to sink in with the state’s regulators.

Regulators in other gas drilling states should sit up sharply and take notice – particularly in New York, where there is still an opportunity to figure out whether it is possible, and if so how, to rigorously regulate gas production to properly protect human health and the environment.

As the horrifying experience in the Gulf of Mexico demonstrates, we cannot be too careful when it comes to domestic fossil fuel development. The costs when things go awry can be both devastating and lasting.

State’s NYC watershed announcement not all it's cracked up to be

2010-04-24T01:53:55Z

Following many months of intense pressure by environmental groups, elected officials and individual NYC residents, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation announced today that it was effectively removing the NYC and Syracuse drinking watersheds from controversial natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale.

Some have been touting this as a victory for New York’s drinking water. But we don’t see it that way. Not only do we fear this move greases the skids for drilling in the remainder of the state without adequate examination of the impacts or measures to protect all New Yorkers’ drinking water supplies, but we also are concerned it risks giving New York City residents a false sense of security.

Let’s be clear about what today’s announcement really means. While the state is acknowledging the special concerns associated with these unique resources because of their special status as unfiltered drinking water supplies for major metropolitan areas, this announcement does little to nothing to actually protect the drinking water supplies for New York City or Syracuse.

Stated another way, the announcement tells us the watersheds for more than 9 million New Yorkers are still vulnerable to drilling with toxic chemicals. And the experience in every other oil and gas drilling state tells us that companies could well find it in their economic interest to go through a “site-specific environmental review” process for well applications in these two watersheds – the so-called special new protections announced today by DEC.

Furthermore, the state has left wide open the possibility that it could revisit drilling in the watersheds at any time, and you can be sure if the shale shows itself to be productive in NYS, the pressure will be on it to do just that. This is especially true looking down the road a few years when gas prices are higher and drills are in the ground elsewhere in the state.

Perhaps even more troubling, it’s an ominous sign for the water supply in the rest of the state – which could be subject to drilling under a rushed and fatally flawed environmental review that we’ve said for months needs to be redone. Removing the NYC watershed from the current review process, in particular, provides opportunities for the agency to speed ahead and begin permitting in other parts of the state. It removes the onus of responding to the devastating comments on impacts to the watershed prepared by the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, NRDC and others with respect to the draft environmental study, and it may lull the city’s residents and elected officials into a false sense of security.

The bottom line is this: we don’t need any more review to tell us what we already know. The economic and health costs of an accident in the New York City or Syracuse water supplies – which is a very real risk – are just too high and too big. The only responsible decision from the state is to issue a full ban on gas drilling in the New York City and Syracuse drinking water supplies, and to restart the environmental review for the rest of the state. Anything else simply doesn’t protect the health of New Yorkers.

So let’s hold off on popping the champagne. And let’s keep up the calls on the Governor and DEC to enact a permanent, legally binding ban on drilling in the ecologically vulnerable drinking watersheds that serve millions of New Yorkers, and to pull back the draft environmental study for the entire state and do it right. Drinking water supplies across the state are at risk. This is our last opportunity to ensure that NY does not suffer the fate of so many other states that have rushed ahead to drill following the siren song of the mighty dollar.

Earth Day E-Waste Victory!

2010-04-20T23:14:34Z

OK, it's not quite Earth Day. But today was the official Earth Day Lobby Day in Albany, and - after much anticipation - the Senate passed an electronic waste (e-waste) recycling bill by a unanimous 61-0 vote!

And not just any e-waste bill, either. This bill represents arguably the most progressive, best researched e-waste bill in the country. It takes advantage of all we have learned about how so-called manufacturer “takeback programs” are best structured, building off the groundbreaking, successful e-waste laws that already exist in states including Washington, Oregon and Minnesota, as well as that enacted in New York City in 2008.

In a nutshell, like its predecessors, this bill would require manufacturers to take back their toxin-containing used electronics from consumers for responsible recycling. This not only gets these dangerous products out of our landfills and incinerators where they can contaminate our water and air, it removes the burden of handling this fastest-growing part of the municipal waste stream from municipalities and taxpayers. And it encourages manufacturers to design products in the future that are easier - and hence cheaper - to recycle in the first place. Ultimately, this should result in products that have fewer toxic components, and more reusable and recyclable components, requiring less use of virgin materials.

Under this law, manufacturers would be responsible for meeting reasonable, but real, performance standards for their recycling programs, ensuring that they are convenient for consumers and robust.

And the state bill would preempt New York City's law. While we're a fan of that law having played a big role in seeing it enacted, a pending industry lawsuit challenging it is so broad it threatens to bring down takeback laws across the country. Passage of the state bill would moot out that case and remove the industry threat. (The state bill actually enjoys broad industry support, and does not contain the controversial provision in the New York City regulations that precipitated the industry suit.)

NRDC has been leading the charge, along with our environmental allies, policymakers and elected officials, to push us over the elusive e-waste finish line in New York in 2010. Last year, we managed to get a similar e-waste bill through the state Assembly, which was introduced by the Governor. Now, we’ve gotten through the Senate, which is a major step forward. But we are not quite there yet.

We’ll be looking now for the two houses to get together and hammer out a reconciliation bill that would resolve the one, relatively minor point of divergence between their bills. That issue is the extent to which manufacturers should be allowed to continue to charge large businesses for collecting their e-waste, which many currently do under long-term provider contracts.

This is simply too minor an issue in the overall scheme of things - and the houses are simply too close - to let this opportunity slip by yet again. Governor Paterson has been a strong leader on this bill from the get-go, and can play an important role in bringing the two bodies together. And Assembly Member Sweeney and Senator Thompson have been strong leaders in getting the bills passed in their houses. We look to them now to finish the job. 2010 has to be the year that all New Yorkers get the opportunity to give back the used electronics that clutter their garages and closets for safe, responsible recycling.

Please take the time to thank your Senators and Assembly Members for having passed the e-waste bill and to encourage them to make sure a two-house bill passes THIS year!

Chesapeake in trouble in PA; Is NY paying attention?

2010-04-20T22:40:23Z

I've been blogging a lot about Marcellus gas drilling in Pennsylvania this week, because (as has frankly been the case for more than a year now) you can't turn around without running into another company in trouble for causing problems. This time it's Chesapeake, which - for the second time since March 1 - had a road use permit revoked for failing to deal with the damage it caused from heavy truck traffic.

The warning signs simply couldn't be louder from across the border that accidents, as well as intentional acts of negligence or malfeasance - with real world consequences for the people who live nearby - can happen when this heavy industrial activity isn't properly regulated. As I wrote yesterday, this kind of behavior resulted in stiff penalties for Cabot arising out of its multiple missteps in Dimock. At some point, you'd think the companies would come around to the view that having strong regulations in place - ones that apply to their competitors and them alike, and that reflect the "best practices" they claim to want to live by - might be less expensive than having to pay for the many mistakes that can happen when inadequate regulation reigns.

Meanwhile, New York's regulators say they are watching, yet at the same time continue to rush towards permitting of new, environmentally-risky drilling in the Marcellus Shale. This would be a colossal mistake. We have one, unique chance here in New York to get it right - to draw the line and say no drills here unless and until the industry can demonstrate it can be done without the accumulating disasters occurring across our border.

There's still time. Let Governor Paterson and the state Department of Environmental Conservation know our guard is not down. We are watching what is happening in Pennsylvania, too, and we are holding you responsible for ensuring it doesn't happen here.

Cabot Sanctioned Big Time for Dimock Disaster

2010-04-20T00:24:25Z

“I feel like God is just looking down and everything Cabot tries, He just messes with them.” Or such is my attempt at paraphrasing Dimock, PA resident, Pat Farnelli, as – standing in her backyard and pointing out the natural gas production operations that surround her home in every direction – she describes how pretty much everything that can go wrong in such an operation has gone wrong in Dimock.

In my second post on my long overdue visit to Dimock last week, I had planned to catalog the many failings (at least the known ones) that Pat was describing and which have beset Dimock: exploding drinking water wells; contaminated drinking water; spills; illegal disposal of toxic wastewater, including spraying it on local roads for “dust control”; ailments including skin rashes, severe nausea and headaches; and sickened livestock and family pets.

But then this breaking news trumped me:

As a direct result of some of these incidents, on April 15th, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania issued an order requiring Cabot Oil and Gas Corporation to take serious steps to address the widespread contamination resulting from its failed well casings in the Dimock region before it is allowed to conduct further gas production activities. These measures include a one-year ban on new drilling and a requirement to close at least three wells implicated in the drinking water contamination, as well as a requirement to provide potable water to more than a dozen affected homeowners. In addition, the state imposed a civil penalty of $240,000 for its failure to comply with an earlier Consent Order arising out of its many violations in Dimock, as well as an on-going requirement that Cabot pay the state $30,000 per month until those violations are deemed corrected.

See local coverage of this astounding development here.

And tune in on Wednesday this week for NBC Nightly News’ coverage of the Dimock story.

Visiting Dimock, Seeing Gas Drilling’s Ugly Side Firsthand

2010-04-15T16:55:39Z

Like so many who have been following controversial gas drilling issues in the Northeast’s Marcellus Shale region (the geological formation that stretches from West Virginia to upstate New York), I have been hearing and reading about, and seeing images of, Dimock, PA for the past roughly year-and-a-half. For those not in the know, Dimock has become the unfortunate poster child for all that can go wrong when industrial gas drilling in the Marcellus isn’t adequately regulated and companies make mistakes. Residents have experienced the wide array of adverse effects associated with shale gas production – many of them, it should be noted, inherent in the activity even under the best of circumstances.

These impacts include: exploding water wells, contaminated water supplies necessitating daily fresh water deliveries (complete with home invasion in order to accept the regular deliveries), rural landscapes utterly transformed into industrial zones, constant diesel fumes, 24-hour-a-day traffic and noise that literally shakes the walls of homes.

I finally had the opportunity to visit Dimock in person earlier this week. This is the first of a series of posts that I’ll file giving some of my impressions. I’m doing this not because I have something new or unique to offer, but because the experience so affected me. And the people who invited me into their homes deserve to have their stories told. I have been working on the Marcellus Shale gas drilling issue for about two-and-a-half years, but as much as I have read, listened to stories, seen photos and video footage and talked about the potential adverse impacts, nothing can compare to seeing, hearing and smelling them live.

The first thing that should be said is that Dimock is (or was) some of the prettiest Pennsylvania farm country I’ve seen. (We’ve posted a few of the photos from our visit here. Other excellent photos of Dimock have been taken by artist, J. Henry Fair, and by local activist, Frank Finan.) While many of Dimock’s residents have been there for generations, many more moved to Dimock to retire in its rolling hills or to raise their kids in a peaceful place.

But now – and for some just years after purchasing their new homes – the landscape is dotted with industrial operations, the roads swarm with trucks and the drinking water is a disturbing shade of brown.

As devastating as the experience is for those who have lost (for the rest of their own lives and those of generations to come) their fundamental right to have clean, safe, potable drinking water come out of their taps (and I’ll be focusing more on this in my next post), what was most perhaps most eye-opening was the utter transformation of the community.

Only when you’re standing in the front yard of someone’s dream home – which was once surrounded only by their residential neighbors and farms – and see, hear, smell and feel the vibrations of the incessant truck traffic that passes at all hours of the day and night can you truly understand how transformative it is when gas production arrives in a community. Only when you hear the constant industrial noise from every direction as new well pads are cleared, well bores drilled and then fracked – noise that likewise exists around the clock – can you comprehend how those whose lives have already been turned upside down by drilling gone wrong can never escape the constant auditory reminders. And only when you stand in the backyard of a family who moved to the beautiful Dimock countryside after their last home burned to the ground and see the well pads to both their immediate left and right does it become clear that – even if everything had gone “right” – this family now lives in an industrial zone.

My next post will focus on some of the myriad things that have, in fact, gone wrong in Dimock – things that have made it the unwilling cautionary tale for why Marcellus drilling should not be permitted in New York (or anywhere) unless and until we are shown if and how it can be done safely.

Important Event on Gas Drilling in NY

2010-04-14T15:37:06Z

All those concerned about the threats posed by expanded natural gas production in New York's Marcellus Shale should attend this important event being hosted by Cooper Union and featuring a slate of top experts TOMORROW.

The fantastic documentary "Split Estate" is a must-see and is also being aired.

Hydro-Fracking for Natural Gas:
How this “clean” fuel technology threatens our water, our health, our landscapes and our energy future

A Public Program & Symposium

As the battle surrounding natural gas extraction in upstate New York is intensifying, more and more people, not only in New York but across the United States, realize that they too are stakeholders in the debate that may become the defining energy and environmental issue of our time.

Dr. Theo Colborn, President, The Endocrine Disruption Exchange
Dr. Michel Boufadel, Chair, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Temple University
Albert Appleton, former Commissioner, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection

Main Event - Symposium
6.30 p.m. April 15, 2010
The Great Hall
7 East 7th Street
Free and Open to the Public

Film Screening
Split Estate (2009)
Presented by Director Debra Anderson
7.30 p.m. April 14, 2010
Anthology Film Archives
32 2nd Avenue (at 2nd St)
Free and Open to the Public

Experts' Roundtable Discussion (will include all above presenters, plus NYS Assemblymember James Brennan, Abrahm Lustgarten (Pro Publica, which has done an award-winning series on gas drilling), Calvin Tillman (mayor of DISH, TX, which has suffered serious air contamination from shale drilling), Jeff Zimmerman (lawyer for Damascus Citizens for Sustainability and NYH2O), and Josh Fox (director of Sundance award-winning documentary "Gasland")
2.00 p.m. April 15, 2010
The Great Hall
7 East 7th Street
Free and Open to the Public

With EPA launching first-of-its-kind study, no excuse for NY to rush forward with drilling in the Marcellus

2010-04-06T23:04:09Z

NRDC and its ally, Catskill Mountainkeeper, have begun running a new series of ads in upstate communities potentially affected by proposed industrial gas drilling in New York’s Marcellus Shale. You can listen to them here. We’ll be following up with a second run of spots in Albany, as well as a new ad in the Legislative Gazette.

While we are in a bit of a regulatory down-time as the state evaluates the 14,000 comments it received on its flawed draft supplemental generic environmental impact statement (the draft SGEIS) for new gas production in the Marcellus, this is no time to step down our efforts to ensure that the state not move towards finalizing that document or issuing permits without issuing a substantially revised draft study for public review. As I have previously blogged, NRDC submitted almost three hundred pages of highly scientific technical comments identifying a slew of fatal deficiencies in the draft SGEIS. Other highly critical technical comments were submitted by the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, federal Environmental Protection Agency, and thousands of elected officials, environmental groups and individuals across the state.

Taken as a whole, there can be no question that the only appropriate course of action is issuance of a new draft. As we wrote in our comments, for the state to proceed on the basis of the current document would be “not only grossly irresponsible but illegal.” Unless and until it can be demonstrated that the state can safely regulate gas production from the Marcellus Shale, it must not be allowed to proceed.

In the meantime, EPA is moving forward with the planning for its study of the impacts of hydraulic fracturing in unconventional gas plays like the Marcellus. NRDC joined Riverkeeper and other waterkeepers in submitting written comments on the scope of the proposed study last week. Tomorrow, I will be traveling down to Washington to supplement with oral comments. Among our major points to EPA are the following:

The need to conduct actual field studies across a range of unconventional gas developments, rather than relying on existing data from state regulators and/or existing literature.
The need to proceed with a broad scope of study, i.e., consideration of (1) all the related development activities necessarily associated with hydraulic fracturing in development of unconventional gas plays, including exploration, drilling, production, waste management, etc., and (2) additional impacts beyond those to water quality, including air quality impacts associated with this same full range of activities.
The need to evaluate impacts on a cumulative – rather than wellpad-by-wellpad – basis. (This correlates to one of primary criticisms of the NY draft SGEIS, which failed to consider impacts as they happen in the real world: with multiple wellpads being developed in a region at a time.)
The need to consider the availability of non-toxic drilling and fracking fluids.
The need to ensure an independent, unbiased expert committee with peer review of the draft study results.

Assuming EPA in fact intends to undertake a study that is broad-based, well-designed and unbiased, it will be an unprecedented scientifically sound examination of the risks and threats associated with drilling in unconventional gas plays. In that case, it would foolish for DEC not to also hold off moving forward with permitting drilling in New York State pending the outcome of the study.

Indeed, the stars are all aligned in a way that says “slow down, New York.” Natural gas prices are in the tank. The governor is a lame duck. EPA is poised to conduct the first credible, comprehensive examination of hydraulic fracturing. And the gas isn’t going anywhere. To squander the opportunity to serve as a model of how to proceed responsibly would be foolish, and more important, likely result in harm to New Yorkers’ environment, communities, homes and possibly their health.

NY Legislators Agree: Governor Must Throw Out Gas Drilling Study, Start Over

2010-01-04T14:19:05Z

Just after the opportunity for public comment on proposed natural gas fracking in New York's Marcellus Shale formation closed last week - it will be hard for the Governor to ignore the big, united coalition of environmentalists and legislators (hailing from across the state and 4 levels of government) who are gathering on the steps of City Hall today to call his attention to our concerns.

Representatives of New York in the U.S. Congress, both houses of the state legislature, New York City Council and county governments are echoing the call of NRDC and more than 25 environmental groups - they want Governor Paterson to throw out the draft environmental study the state issued on proposed natural gas drilling and start over.

We agree: the state's draft study on natural gas hydrofracking in the Marcellus is flawed, insufficient and inadequate to use as the basis for permitting gas drilling in New York.

The comment period on the state’s draft environmental study closed Dec. 31st and after careful review of the more than 800-page document by NRDC staff – together with a team we retained of leading scientific and legal experts in the fields of hydrology, hydrogeology, petroleum engineering, toxicology, and general environmental review – we submitted our official comments. You can find NRDC’s full comments here, and I’ve pulled out a few key conclusions below:

The study is fatally flawed and must be withdrawn
It does not look at the impacts of drilling throughout the Marcellus Shale on a cumulative basis
It does not properly consider alternative, safer practices (e.g., setting sensitive places off-limits, using non-toxic fracking fluids, or issuing drill permits in phases instead of all at once)
It does not propose a legally binding regulatory program for the major new industrial activity it would create here in New York
It fails to address the risk of toxic chemical contamination of the drinking water supply for 9 million New Yorkers (including all of NYC) by failing to set the unique and critically important Catskill/Delaware Watershed off-limits from drilling

The lengthy comments of our technical experts highlight numerous other critical deficiencies – ranging from the failure to properly model for potential contaminant migration, to inadequate monitoring plans, to failure to account for how and where vast amounts of wastewater would be treated, as well as many, many other fatal flaws. In addition, the comments put in on our behalf by leading environmental firm, Sive, Paget & Riesel, P.C., highlight the particular impacts that would be borne by local communities.

The controversial gas drilling methods in question risk toxic chemical contamination to drinking water not only for the more than 9 million New York City area residents in the Catskill/Delaware watershed, but numerous others across the state. And it carries with it a host of other environmental and public health threats. Already, it has been linked to contamination incidents in other parts of the country. After seeing the consequences unfold elsewhere - New Yorkers deserve to know this method will be done safely if drills are to break ground.

But the state has yet to show this is the case. And the coalition of New Yorkers and their government representatives who agree continues to grow. Strongly critical comments were also submitted by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, which essentially called for a ban on drilling in the Catskill/Delaware watershed, as well as the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Natural gas may be able to help us in the epic effort to transition to a clean energy economy - but not at the cost of safe drinking water.

Let's hope Governor Paterson is listening.

Join Thousands Calling on Governor Paterson to Require a New Draft Study of Marcellus Gas Drilling’s Risks

2009-12-10T22:13:34Z

Two days ago, the Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin reported on escalating calls across New York State for Governor Paterson to order the state Department of Environmental Conservation to scrap its draft environmental study of controversial new drilling techniques (horizontal drilling with hydraulic fracturing) proposed to be used in the Marcellus Shale formation. A day earlier, the New York Times reported on increasing concerns about drilling’s pollution risks throughout the Marcellus region – focusing on a recent lawsuit filed by residents of Dimock, PA whose drinking water wells were contaminated following drilling in the area.

In a nutshell, a growing number of environmental, conservation, good government and outdoors groups, joined by thousands of individuals, have concluded that the state DEC’s draft study is fatally flawed – in that it does not adequately evaluate the potential risks from hydraulic fracturing to drinking water, other natural resources and human health – and therefore that it cannot serve as the basis for any decisionmaking with regard to drilling in the Marcellus.

Here is a sign-on letter sent last Thursday in which 26 groups joined NRDC in calling not only for the draft study to be withdrawn, but also for a one-year moratorium on drilling in the Marcellus until the proper studies are completed and asking the Governor to request the EPA Region II conduct a scientifically sound evaluation of the risks of hydraulic fracturing.

Follow this link to send your own similar letter to the Governor.

And here is a link to an on-line petition calling for the draft study’s withdrawal that is sponsored by Toxics Targeting – an Ithaca-based company that obtains data from a local, state and federal sources to help assess and track environmental conditions. Of late, TT has been devoting significant time and attention to the gas drilling issue.

Last month, TT’s president, Walter Hang, reported that he had identified more than 270 spills associated with gas production in New York – many of which remain unremediated.

Now, Hang is working to locate individuals who are willing to speak out about how they have been personally affected by gas drilling incidents in New York. The Binghampton SunPress story reports on one:

"Laurie Lytle, a resident of Varick, Seneca County … signed a gas lease with Chesapeake shortly after buying her home near Geneva in September 2006. By fall 2007,Chesapeake was drilling and hydro-fracking … a vertical well … 660 feet from Lytle’s property line…

The morning after the fracking occurred, Lytle said she was surprised to discover that her water was gray and full of sediment. She said she contacted Chesapeake and they told her it would stop in three to four days once the ground settled. After three days, Lytle said the sediment was gone, but the water was still cloudy. She contacted Chesapeake again and they agreed to install a water filter on her well.

Lytle kept copies of the check and invoice made out to her and her husband, signed by Chesapeake and describing the purpose of the money as "Damages.""

Hang also filmed this video showing a man in Bixby, New York lighting his tap on fire after alleged methane contamination caused by gas drilling:

Hang’s research is putting the lie to the oft-repeated claims by industry that gas drilling has to date – and will continue to – occur in New York without incident and without risk to our environment or health. And it points to the critical need to ensure that all such risks are fully assessed before any new drilling in the Marcellus is permitted to proceed.

So please write the Governor now to tell him to slow this process down so that New Yorkers can be assured that no new drilling will take place before the proper analyses are completed and any and all protective measures put in place.

We’ll be writing again next week to ask you to weigh in with the state with comments on the inadequacies in the draft study in the event the Governor doesn’t order it pulled before the end of the comment period – the last opportunity for the public to speak to the environmental review – as the decade comes to a close on December 31st.

New York City: Come Out and Tell the State to Keep Our Water Clean

2009-11-05T21:24:49Z

First, some good news. Responding to the calls of concerned folks across the state, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation yesterday extended the public comment period until December 31 on its draft environmental impact statement for natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale formation, which includes the drinking watershed for all of New York City and 1 million New Yorkers outside the five boroughs.

Now, for what you need to know between now and then.

Next Tuesday, November 10th at Stuyvesant High School, DEC is holding its one and only NYC hearing on gas drilling in the NYC watershed. If you want continued safe drinking water, we urge you to come out to rally ahead of the hearing and testify that the state needs to protect it.

The Marcellus underlies the entire west-of-Hudson portion of the NYC watershed, which in turn supplies 90% of the clean, unfiltered drinking water enjoyed by 8 million New York City residents, and an additional 1 million residents of Westchester.

Industrial gas drilling has been linked to drinking water contamination in other parts of the country, and because of the risk it would pose to this invaluable resource in New York, NRDC has been working with elected officials and other environmental organizations to convince the state to impose an outright ban on gas drilling in the watershed. At stake is not only the quality of the water we drink and our public health, but also tens of billions of taxpayer dollars that would be needed to build and operate remedial systems if this decision is mishandled.

Yes, last week Chesapeake Energy gave its (not legally binding) word that it won't drill in the watershed (for now). But this temporary, non-enforceable promise from one company is not sufficient to protect the NYC watershed. And there are dozens of other energy companies who have made no such promises. We need the state to enact a formal ban that applies to all companies for all time.

And of course, the potential impacts aren't limited to New York City's water. Threats to drinking water supplies throughout the Marcellus formation upstate, as well as air quality, land use and other concerns also abound. As I have previously blogged, we will continue working with our experts to develop a thorough set of comments and recommendations to ensure that all the state's resources receive the utmost possible protection.

In the meantime, we need your help to protect your drinking water and let DEC know of your concerns by attending the upcoming gas drilling rally & public hearing next Tuesday.

At 5 pm, Borough President Scott Stringer is kicking off the evening's events, leading a rally outside Stuyvesant High School (345 Chambers Street, between the West Side Highway and Hudson River Park). We need hundreds of people to send the message that we need a ban on drilling in the NYC watershed now!

Then, at 6:30 pm, a public hearing before the State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will occur inside the high school. Doors open at 5:30 pm for individual questions and speaker sign-up. [Note: If you've been following this already, this is one half hour earlier than previously scheduled]. We expect a huge turnout, so come early for the rally and to ensure that your name gets on the list to testify.

This is our one chance to let the state hear it from our mouths. Let's let the state know that New Yorkers won't stand for drilling with toxic chemicals in our watershed.

New York Times Agrees: Ban Drilling in NYC's Watershed

2009-10-29T22:48:22Z

I wrote yesterday about the inadequacy of Chesapeake's decision not to exercise its right to drill in NYC's watershed and the need for the state to impose an across-the-board ban on drilling in that most precious resource.

Today a New York Times editorial issued the same call, writing:

"The threat has not ... disappeared. Chesapeake['s] ... decision is voluntary and not binding on other oil and gas companies. New York State needs to adopt regulations that place the watershed permanently off limits, while imposing the strictest possible safeguards on drilling anywhere else where drinking water supplies might be affected."

This is just the right message and one that it's time for Governor Paterson and the Department of Environmental Conservation to heed.

No More Excuses: NY Must Ban Gas Drilling in the NYC Watershed Now

2009-10-28T19:47:06Z

Yesterday evening, Chesapeake Energy Corp. quietly leaked the news that it would not develop the leases it has purchased for natural gas exploration in the New York City watershed - which supplies clean, unfiltered drinking water to 9 million New Yorkers. There is now no conceivable excuse for New York State not to impose a permanent, legally enforceable ban on any gas drilling, by any company, anywhere within the watershed, ever.

While Chesapeake continues to deny that drilling in the watershed would present any risk to human health or the environment, its decision not to drill there represents at the very least an implicit acknowledgement of what NRDC and slews of others have been saying all along: to do so would be, well, crazy.

The entire western portion of the City's watershed sits atop the Marcellus Shale, a tight rock formation that is believed to contain significant quantities of natural gas that can only be obtained using the controversial hydraulic fracturing technology. Because hydraulic fracturing involves blasting millions of gallons of water mixed with chemicals into the rock to free the gas trapped within it, the fact is that it does run the risk of contaminating the City's drinking water supply if conducted within the watershed. Other aspects of gas production in the Marcellus - including sedimentation from land clearing for well pads, access roads and feeder pipelines, as well as significant hazardous wastes generated throughout well development - would present additional risks to the City's water quality. Addressing contamination by any of these sources would run to the billions of dollars.

So let's be clear about what Chesapeake's announcement does and doesn't mean:

It does mean that the roughly 5,000 acres leased by Chesapeake will remain undeveloped as long as Chesapeake holds the leases, probably another handful of years in most cases.
It doesn't mean that those leases won't be purchased by someone else and developed in the future.
It doesn't mean that any of the remaining thousands of acres of private land in the watershed won't be leased and developed.
It doesn't mean that - should gas prices rise and the Marcellus prove viable three, five, ten or even twenty years from now - every gas company out there (and there are dozens) won't be knocking on the watershed door. Indeed, given its continued denial of the obvious health risks, there's nothing to say that Chesapeake itself won't come back around. After all, once the companies start drilling in the Marcellus, they will be here for decades.

So, while Chesapeake's announcement sounds the right note, it must be followed by swift action by the state to make the ban on drilling in the NYC watershed complete, permanent, and legally enforceable. Given that the self-proclaimed sole leaseholder in the watershed has claimed it doesn't intend to drill, there can be no further excuse for anything less.

CALL TO ACTION:

In the meantime, of course, NRDC and our allies remain dedicated to ensuring that the remaining parts of the state facing the prospect of Marcellus drilling receive the utmost protections (including additional bans where appropriate). To that end, we continue to work with our technical experts to carefully review the recently released draft generic environmental impact statement and develop a thorough set of recommendations as to its analyses and proposals.

But the state has only given the public 60 days to review this highly technical 809-page document. This is not nearly enough. Call on the Governor now to direct the Department of Environmental Conservation to extend the public comment period by no fewer than an additional 60 days (or January 30, 2010). You can call the Governor at 518-474-8390 or visit his website to email him and send this critical message.

And in the interim, be sure to weigh in at one of the four public hearings DEC is holding on the draft EIS. The first one is at the Sullivan County Community College in Loch Sheldrake tonight. The dates and locations of all the hearings (sign-up for all of which starts at 6 pm) are:

Wednesday, October 28, Sullivan County Community College, E Building, Seelig Theatre, 112 College Rd., Loch Sheldrake, NY 12759.
Tuesday, November 10, Stuyvesant High School, High School Auditorium, 345 Chambers Street, New York, NY 10282.
Thursday, November 12, Chenango Valley High School, High School Auditorium, 221 Chenango Bridge Rd., Chenango Bridge, NY 13901.
Wednesday, November 18, Corning East High School Auditorium, 201 Cantigny Street, Corning, NY 14830.

You can also submit written comments directly via email to DEC at dmnsgeis@gw.dec.state.ny.us.

This is arguably the most significant new industrial activity proposed in New York in a generation. Let your concerns be heard.