by Andrew S. and Pat C.
The possibility that the contaminants used in fracing fluid could pollute the Delaware River remains unresolved. Yet, Noel van Swol, champion of natural gas drilling in New York State, claims drilling is approaching sooner than people think.
Van Swol, head of the Sullivan County Landowners Association, said “Natural gas is the bridge fuel America will need for the next fifty years… Its development can’t be stopped.” in an article entitled “Gas Drilling Can’t Be Stopped, Says Local Man” in the April 15 issue of The Hancock Herald, but the citizens of New York City and a number of local groups opposed to drilling are not at all ready to sacrifice the Delaware watershed to natural gas drilling companies.
The Manhattan Community Board No. 2, mentioned in last month’s Family Times article “NYC Gets Involved,” is one of 59 community boards in New York City. A third of the boards passed similar resolutions to the Manhattan Community Board No. 2 to ban drilling in the Delaware watershed.
The New York City Council Committee holds public hearings and drafts legislation or resolutions for issues that affect the city. Samara Swanston, committee staff and counsel of the Council, said, “The city council has a resolution to prohibit drilling. However, the NYCDEP (New York City Department of Environmental Protection) would have to amend the watershed rules.” When asked what the NYCDEP had done thus far to amend watershed rules, Swanston replied, “I’d like to know that as well.”
Senior Analyst Rusty Horwitt of the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a research and advocacy organization in Washington, DC, testified at a recent public hearing. In a follow-up interview Horwitt said, “I am not aware of any company, state, or organization that has done testing on fracing fluid including the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)… There is evidence suggesting that fracing fluid is not safe, but none suggesting that it is.”
“Gas and oil companies are exempt from every single enviromental law and don’t have to use fracing fluid that is safe,” said Damascus Citizens for Sustainability (DCS) spokesman Pat Carullo.
According to Lori Severino of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), “The Marcellus applications won’t be processed until the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) is done… the DEC’s emphasis is on preventing any exposure pathway, regardless of toxicity.”
If natural gas drilling does occur, there will be highly toxic fracing fluid left over that will need to be disposed of. Carullo of the DCS stated, “Left over fracing fluid is 10 times more toxic than the most toxic industrial waste.”
Yet for all of the efforts of the opposition, gas drilling is actually underway just across the Delaware River in nearby Wayne County, Pa., and there are presently six well permits pending in the surrounding areas of Hancock.
With natural gas drilling creeping closer and closer, organizations like the DCS and the NYC Council Committee remain committed to stop the drilling and prevent any hazards associated with it, in spite of van Swol’s prediction.
