New Coalition Letter Requests That Governor Cuomo Terminate Shale Gas Rulemaking/Restart SGEIS

Greetings:

All hands on deck!!!

Today is the deadline for completing DEC's shale gas regulatory rulemaking proceeding. DEC has reportedly filed a Notice of Revised Rulemaking for a 90-day extension, but has not yet released its revised regulatory proposal.

Things are rapidly imploding. The rulemaking proceeding is intended to translate the Final SGEIS into regulatory requirements. It makes no sense to proceed with rulemaking before a Final SGEIS is adopted. No Final SGEIS will be adopted until DOH completes its "health impact analysis" review of the Revised Draft SGEIS. No plan has been disclosed for conducting DOH's review.

An example of the absurdity of continuing the rulemaking without a Final SGEIS is apparent on page two of the Revised Summary of Terms: "Part 560, applicable to HVHF wells, promulgates (emphasis added) many mitigation measures specified (emphasis added) in the Supplement [sic] Generic Environmental Impact Statement on the Oil and Gas Regulatory Program (SGEIS)."

There is NO SGEIS at this time!!! The Revised Draft SGEIS has not yet been adopted.

It is shocking that the Cuomo Administration would prematurely release such embarrassingly shoddy documents. This rush to judgment calls into question the integrity of the SGEIS and the rulemaking proceedings. Both must be restarted.

With that goal in mind, please sign a New Coalition Letter that was sent to Governor Cuomo last evening. See: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/MarcellusShale/letters/2012/11/28/cuomo

The self-explanatory letter requests that he:

a) terminate DEC's shale gas rulemaking effort; and

b) restart the Revised Draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement proceeding to require public participation in formulating the Department of Health's proposed "health impact analysis" review.

Take URGENT action today:

Ask Governor Cuomo to:

Terminate DEC's shale gas revised rulemaking proposal. Kill the Request for a 90-Day Extension.

Restart the SGEIS to allow public comment about how DOH should undertake its "health impact analysis" review.

DEC must not adopt shale gas rules until the SGEIS and the DOH "health impact analysis" review are complete.

No rulemaking should begin until a final decision is made about allowing shale gas fracking in NYS.

Email Governor Cuomo: http://www.governor.ny.gov/contact/GovernorContactForm.php

Call Governor Cuomo:

Albany: 518-474-8390
New York City: 212-681-4580
Binghamton: 607-721-8367

Twitter the Governor: @NYGovCuomo
Facebook him: https://www.facebook.com/GovernorAndrewCuomo?sk=wall

See DEC revised rulemaking docs: http://www.toxicstargeting.com/node/34483

I want to thank the below-referenced elected officials and activists throughout the Southern Tier, the Finger Lakes, the Central New York Region and the Catskills who signed the letter in a matter of hours so that it could be submitted before the deadline. We have already begun to generate press coverage about the letter.

Thank you for your assistance. This fight has a long way to go. Onward and upward.

Walter Hang
"If you would like to unsubscribe, please send a blank email to:
signatories_list-unsubscribe@lists.toxicstargeting.com"
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ttmarcellus
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tt.marcellusshale

November 28, 2012

Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo
Governor of New York
The State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224

Dear Governor Cuomo:

We, the undersigned, write to request that you require your Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to: a) terminate its shale gas rulemaking effort by not submitting any request for a 90-day extension and b) restart its Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) proceeding to allow public participation in formulating your Department of Health’s (DOH) proposed “health impact analysis” review.

DOH’s review is critically important because DEC has said that no Final SGEIS will be adopted until the review is completed. It is essential that DOH’s review be comprehensive, open, transparent and involve full public participation.

Public Comment for DOH Review Essential

To date, your administration has not published a single word about the proposed DOH review. As a result, the public has no idea about the scope of the review or how it would be conducted.

We believe the best way to address this unacceptable shortcoming is to reopen the SGEIS proceeding to allow public comment about how DEC and DOH should undertake the review. After both agencies have reviewed those comments, a final review proposal can be adopted.

Terminate Shale Gas Rulemaking Proceeding

You stated publicly that DEC's proposed rulemaking proceeding will not meet its 11/29/12 deadline. It has been reported that a revised rulemaking proposal is about to be initiated by DEC as part of a 90-day extension of that proceeding.

It would be entirely inappropriate to continue DEC's shale gas rulemaking proposal while the DOH health impact analysis review is incomplete. To do so would call into question the integrity of DOH’s review as well as DEC’s rulemaking proceeding.

Good Science Imperative to DOH Review

It is imperative for all the physicians, scientists, academic researchers, elected officials, citizens and other interested parties who have expressed grave concerns about the SGEIS's inadequate health impact analysis to be allowed to comment publicly on how the DOH review must be conducted in order to be based on “good science.”

DOH Review Must Investigate Documented Gas Extraction Problems

DOH’s review of the SGEIS’ “health impact analysis” will help determine whether shale gas fracking will be permitted in New York. Given the importance of that decision, we believe the review must investigate drinking water contamination, gas drilling wastewater dumping, unplugged gas wells and other public health hazards documented by DEC's own records as well as by local health departments in the areas of New York where gas drilling has been prevalent.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we believe that New York’s existing shale gas fracking moratorium must be maintained until all public health and environmental concerns associated with the proposed practice have been fully resolved.

In order to achieve that goal, we request that you require DEC to terminate its shale gas rulemaking effort and restart the SGEIS proceeding to allow public participation in formulating the proposed “health impact analysis” review.

We trust that you will find our request self-explanatory, but please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about our concerns.

Thank you for your consideration.

We look forward to receiving your timely reply.

Very truly yours,

Walter Hang
215 North Cayuga Street
Ithaca, NY 14850

Honorable Matthew T. Ryan
Mayor of Binghamton

Honorable Pamela Mackesey
Tompkins County Legislator

Dr. Benjamin Perkus
New York Residents Against Drilling (NYRAD)
1617 State Route 12
Binghamton, NY

Karen Glauber
Save the Southern Tier
117 Rock Rd
Vestal, NY

Robert H. Boyle and Kathryn Belous-Boyle
(RHB: Founder of Riverkeeper and The Hudson River Foundation for Science and Environmental Research)
Roaring Book Farm,
428 Briar Hill Road,
Cooperstown, NY 13326.

Erin Heaton
Chenango Community Action for Renewable Energy (C-CARE)

Terry Cuddy
Founder
Cayuga Anti-Fracking Alliance

Larry and Missy Goetz
TOUCAF - Town of Union Citizens Against Fracking

Gerri Wiley, RN
Owego RAFT
(Residents Against Fracking Tioga)

Joan Koster
CCRB
Concerned Citizens of Rural Broome
P. O. Box 32 Castle Creek NY 13744

Yvonne Lucia
Concerned Citizens of the Town of Binghamton

Adelaide Park Gomer
Wycoff Road
Ithaca, NY 14850

Larysa Dyrszka, MD

Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D.
Distinguished Scholar in Residence
Ithaca College

Julia Walsh
Founder & Campaign Director Frack Action

Robert Warren Howarth
David R. Atkinson Professor of Ecology and Environmental Biology
Cornell University

Sara Hess
Shaleshock Action Alliance

Jill Wiener
Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy

Peter Gamba
Committee To Support the Finger Lakes

Suzannah Glidden, Chair
Hands Across the Border

Karen London
Co-founder
Sullivan Area Citizens for Responsible Energy Development (SACRED)