NY State Admits Ignoring Threat to City’s Drinking Water
Well Duh! Like I said: If hydraulic fracturing is so damn safe, why does Big Oil need exemptions?
In two documents released last October and earlier this month, the Department of Environmental Conservation declared that it “does not…find a significant environmental impact associated with [hydraulic fracturing], which has been in use in New York State for at least 50 years.”
Yet when EWG sent a FOIL request asking the DEC to disclose details of tests of surface and underground waters for contamination by hydraulic fracturing chemicals, department officials responded that “the division of Mineral Resources does not maintain any records which are responsive to your request.” EWG senior analyst Dusty Horwitt placed a follow-up telephone call to a state official, who confirmed that the state had done no testing and had no test results.
“The Department of Environmental Conservation violates the public’s trust when it says that hydrofracing is safe for the environment,” Horwitt said. “New York’s taxpayers and property owners have a right to know exactly what happens when tons of water laced with carcinogens and other toxics are blasted into the earth near their water supplies. Whether out of ignorance or deceit, the DEC’s policy amounts to ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’.”
How could it be safe to pump these chemicals into the ground with the possibility that they could find their way into our drinking water.
EWG recommends that New York state authorities reject applications for hydrofracing permits until natural gas companies have publicly disclosed the chemicals they plan to use and until the state has conducted tests on whether past instances of hydraulic fracturing have contaminated New York water supplies. The state should also obtain reliable tests from hydrofracing operations similar to those contemplated for New York, to determine whether those operations contaminated water supplies.
H.R. 7231 will reinstate basic federal standards for hydraulic fracturing under the SDWA and enable the EPA to protect our drinking water from oil and gas pollution. Please contact your representatives and ask that they support this bill!
About Sharon Wilson
Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.
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This was a brilliant move, BRILLIANT, because these guys wrote the FOIA request in such as way that the response allowed the organization to exploit the vacuum within. That’s a smart friggin’ way to frame your argument, and whoever was behind it – GOOD JOB!! It’s tough to fight shadows. But you CAN fight structured ignorance.
These folks just got the conversation started!! Really started! THANK YOU!
I’ve added some new stuff to the blog in the way of the Frac page (Colborn commentary and industry-side revelations about the inexact nature of the technique – which I’m still adding too).
Sharon, thanks for helping Texans and others learn about the perils of this industry.
Let’s hope we can inspire everyone toward better and balanced practices!
Lisa Bracken
Project Forsaken
http://www.journeyoftheforsaken.com