Federal Officials Criticize Department of Environmental Conservation’s Impact Report
By Erika C.
With the gas companies itching to get their hands on the extremely valuable gas contained in the Marcellus Shale, more and more officials and residents of New York are speaking up about the dangers natural gas drilling poses to drinking water, public health, and the beautiful natural surroundings of upstate New York.
On January 4, state, city, county and federal officials of New York met to discuss the flaws in the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) that was issued by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The statement governs horizontal gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale.
“The DEC received over 12,000 submissions regarding the SGEIS,” said Pat Carullo who is from the Damascus Citizens for Sustainibility (DCS). “The process will take some time,” he said, when asked about the DEC’s plans for a revised document.
Most of the officials were in favor of slowing things down and making sure that New York State is well protected and that the drilling companies are held accountable for any infractions.
Many environmental organizations asked Governor David Paterson to withdraw the SGEIS. “The DEC needs to withdraw the very seriously deficient SGEIS. Instead, DEC needs to produce… a new working plan that will cover the cumulative impacts of all aspects of the proposed massive drilling. This is absolutely critical to protect precious water supplies, other natural resources, and public health in our state,” said Susan Lawrence, Chair, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter.
Although many officials were concerned with how drilling would affect residents of New York City, it would be grossly irresponsible not to take into account the rest of the State of New York. “The risk to clean, fresh water from hydrofracing in the New York City watershed is widely acknowledged, but the rest of New York is similarly at risk and deserves equal protection,” said Jessica Helm, another member of the Sierra Club.
Maurice Hinchey Congress-man of New York sent a letter to the commissioner of the DEC commenting on the SGEIS. “More work is needed in order to properly safeguard against the risks that hydraulic fracturing poses to drinking water, air quality, public health, and local infrastructure before Marcellus drilling should be allowed to go forward.”
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Nice post! I couldn’t agree more. I feel badly for the people of Dimock, PA. But if their example leads to greater accountability for the industry everywhere else they plan to drill, then their tragedy will not have been in vain.
Summary of Allegations
In January 2009, the cap situated atop a natural gas well in Dimock Twp., Pa. “exploded with some force,” according to local reports. The incident caused no injuries, but the resulting investigation by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) found small traces of methane gas in the air and in three private wells in the area. According to DEP spokesman Mark Carmon, the level of methane present in the wells was not sufficiently high so as to be considered harmful.
On February 27, DEP served the operator in the area with a “Notice of Violation,” claiming its production activities had caused some local private water wells to be contaminated with methane. Two weeks later, Reuters reported that “leaks of toxic chemicals into groundwater” used in the fracturing of local natural gas wells were being blamed for “diarrhea and vomiting,” loss of hair in animals, and poor-tasting drinking water.
On March 28, DEP reversed its previous position after weeks of intensive study – reporting that dozens of water samples collected in Dimock Twp. showed no indication of being tainted from activities related to hydraulic fracturing.
Conclusion
Despite the best efforts of Reuters reporter John Hurdle to conflate one issue (infiltration of natural gas into water) with another (chemical contamination of drinking water via hydraulic fracturing), DEP failed to find a single molecule of frac-related fluid in any of the dozens of wells it tested.
In the final analysis, it remains entirely possible the DEP will eventually conclude the operator in question had something to do with the methane infiltration in Dimock Twp. DEP has not issued a conclusive ruling on that point. What is known at this stage is that no contamination that occurred – either real or alleged – was the result of hydraulic fracturing, a finding on which DEP has in fact ruled conclusively.