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Idea of limited NY fracking divides energy camps
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Landowners along New York's southern border who support natural gas drilling are cheered by reports that the Cuomo administration is considering allowing hydraulic fracturing on a limited basis in towns that want it, though opponents call the idea "shameful."
The administration is pursuing a plan to limit the controversial shale gas drilling technology to portions of Broome, Chenango, Steuben and Tioga counties, The New York Times quoted a senior official at the state Department of Environmental Conservation as saying, along with others with knowledge of the situation. That region, along the border with heavily drilled Pennsylvania, is considered most likely to yield significant quantities of natural gas in New York.
The Joint Landowners Coalition of New York, which is seeking to lease land for drilling, has persuaded several dozen towns to pass resolutions supporting drilling. Many more towns have passed bans or moratoriums on drilling.
"We're encouraged. It appears as though the administration is trying to move the ball forward," Dan Fitzsimmons, who heads the landowner group, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "There are many communities that are eager to proceed. We've always believed that drilling can be done in an environmentally sound way and that it would be a huge benefit to the economy."
The Times reported that officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because deliberations are continuing.
Cuomo and Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens have declined to give a specific timetable for completion of the environmental review and haven't said definitively whether fracking will be allowed in New York.
"No final decision has been made and no decision will be made until the scientific review is complete and we have all the facts," Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto said Wednesday.
Numerous environmental, health, and community groups are seeking a statewide ban on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which frees gas from shale by injecting a well with millions of gallons of chemically treated water at immense pressure. Opponents of drilling and fracking in the vast Marcellus Shale formation underlying parts of New York, Pennsylvania and other states cite risks of water and air pollution.
"It's absolutely unconscionable that the governor would even think about exposing some New Yorkers to fracking hazards while protecting others," said Walter Hang of Toxics Targeting. "There should be no second-class citizens when it comes to shale gas fracking in New York."
A coalition of scientists, physicians, environmentalists and elected officials has gathered more than 2,300 signatures on a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo opposing plans for any demonstration project or other plan to allow shale gas development on a limited basis. Proponents have suggested such a plan as an alternative to wide-scale development.
"Partitioning our state into frack and no-frack zones based on economic desperation is a shameful idea, and we will actively oppose its implementation," said Sandra Steingraber, founder of New Yorkers Against Fracking.
The state has not permitted shale gas development using horizontal drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing since it began an environmental review in 2008. The review, and new regulations, are expected to be completed this year.
"Certainly it's good news that the administration is looking to begin the permitting process," said Sen. Thomas Libous, a Republican whose Southern Tier district includes most of the territory sought for hydrofracking.
"Obviously, as I've said in the past, there are a number of communities that would welcome it and are very open to it," Libous told the AP. "The only caution is that if I look at my overall district, I have about 22 towns and villages that have already passed some sort of resolution to be supportive of natural gas drilling, but I have over all some 30,000 landowners who certainly have identical rights over whether or not they would want to sign leases to move forward."
"Our position is anything that moves the issue forward is a good sign," said Jim Smith, spokesman for the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York. "We would support a program that allows industry to prove what we've been saying all along — that drilling can be done safely in New York."
New Yorkers Against Fracking
There is a new push to try to convince Governor Andrew Cuomo not to lift the moratorium on hydrofracking.
Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan and representatives of several environmental and anti-fracking organizations have signed onto a letter that demands fracking not be allowed to move forward if its not safe for all areas of the state. The group also says the Governor needs to make sure that an executive order is followed that requires a full environmental and public health assessment before fracking can proceed. 2,300 people have signed onto the letter, including Walter Hang, who is the President of Toxics Targeting, an environmental database company in Ithaca.
Hang says, "We have to make sure if New York State goes forward with fracking that it's safe for all New Yorkers. It doesn't make sense to bar it from the New York City watershed, bar it from state land, but allow it in other places. We believe the Governor is a champion of equal protection to all New Yorkers and we want that extended to fracking."
Hang says other people who have signed the letter include scientists and doctors.
Ryan Calls on Cuomo to Not Test Fracking in NYS
A group that includes Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan is sending a letter to Governor Cuomo calling for him to oppose any fracking test- demonstration project in New York State.
Walter Hang, President of Toxics Targeting said 2,300 people signed the letter. According to Hang, the letter is critical of a plan to use a parcel of land to test drill, even before the state might decide to lift the morotorium on fracking.
"These letters are very, very powerful. They're very detailed and they have incredible support from elected officials, scientists, civic and environmental organizations," said Hang.
The letter says no fracking should take place in New York State before the Department of Environmental Conservation completes its most recent report on the environmental and health impacts of fracking.
One unplanned part of Tuesday's announcement was the presence of the man who served the City of Binghamton papers for the lawsuit over its fracking ban.
Vic Furman of Chenango Forks is one of the principals of the suit which claims the ban is invalid because it needs to be referred to the County Planning Department.
Furman says he'd be happy to have his five acres be part of a fracking demonstration project.
Maor Ryan, meanwhile, feels the city's ban will be upheld by the courts.
"Yes I would. I would. And it wouldn't be experimental. Let's face it, they've been hydrofracking gas wells, horizontal wells since 1982," said Furman
"If we do, we do. That's what courts are all about. If we don't, we'll start over again. If the courts decide we didn't do it properly - and I think we did because we did it under police powers rather than land use and zoning - but that's what the courts are for," said Ryan.
The case against the city is in State Supreme Court.
Anti-fracking supporters call for ban on test drilling
As pictured from left, biologist and author Sandra Steingraber, Binghamton Mayor Matthew Ryan, president of Ithaca-based Toxics Targeting Walter Hang, ___ Ben Perkus, and former county legislator and Sierra Club member Chris Burger gather in downtown Binghamton on Tuesday afternoon to announce a letter to Gov. Cuomo requesting that he oppose any gas fracking demonstration projects in the Tier or anywhere else in New York State. / CASEY STAFF/ Staff Photo
BINGHAMTON -- Mayor Matthew Ryan, along with other anti-fracking supporters, called upon Gov. Andrew Cuomo to put a stop to test wells in New York.
Outside City Hall on Tuesday, supporters of the measure unveiled a letter with more than 2,300 signatures that will be sent to Cuomo. The letter requests the state government cease any plans to allow for test wells for the hydrofracking of natural gas. The measure was put forth by supporters of drilling to allow elected leaders and residents to monitor the safety of the process.
Ryan and others said the method of hydrofracking is not safe, citing problems with parts of Pennsylvania where some residents say their wells have been contaminated.
"We know it can't be done safely the way that it's done," Ryan said. "There's no reason to rush this. There's so many things that haven't been addressed."
The letter-signers are part of a "broad coalition" which includes scientists, physicians, elected leaders and environmentalists, said Walter Hand, president of Ithaca-based Toxics Targeting, an environmental group. The state needs to do a comprehensive assessment on the health and environmental effects of hydrofracking before any wells are allowed, he said.
"We don't want to be guinea pigs," Hang said.
While drilling supporters have discussed the economic advantages to drilling, the long-term effects have yet to be addressed, said Sandra Steingraber, a biologist and author of "Raising Elijah: Protecting Children in an Age of Environmental Crisis."
"The Southern Tier is not a laboratory," she said.
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Binghamton Mayor leads push to prevent fracking
A letter is on its way to Governor Cuomo asking him to oppose test runs of hydraulic fracturing in the Southern Tier. As our Elyse Mickalonis tells us, Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan says the residents shouldn’t be treated as guinea pigs and more research needs to be done before fracking is allowed in New York.
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- The fracking debate continues in the Southern Tier as Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan joined environmental advocates, physicians, farmers and local business owners Tuesday to announce the release of a letter sent to Governor Cuomo.
"We came together as a coalition to say, 'look governor, support the executive order 41 that's in place to make sure everybody is treated equally in the state of New York' and we want the governor to listen clearly that there should not be a demonstration project. We care just as much about our children and future as much as anyone else in the state,” said Ryan.
The letter has almost 2,300 signatures. It asks the governor to oppose any test runs of Marcellus Shale hydraulic fracturing in the Southern Tier or anywhere else in New York State.
"If it isn't safe in the New York City watershed, then it shouldn't be allowed anywhere else. Until all these safeguards have been adopted, we don't think that the Southern Tier or any other area should be the learning experience for the fracking industry,” said Walter Hang, Toxics Targeting President.
The letter comes at a time when the DEC has not yet finalized permitting regulations and there is a statewide moratorium on fracking. But not everyone agrees with the terms of the letter. Some say they would even allow test runs on their land.
“It wouldn’t be experimental, because, let’s face it, they been hydrofracking, horizontal drilling since 1982. That’s 31 years, it’s not a new process,” said Victor Furman, Chenango Forks resident.
Proponents of hydrofracking say it's safe and could bring jobs to an area hit hard by flooding, but people here say it’s not worth the risk and more research needs to be done.
"If the Governor is really going to listen to executive order 41. Which, really, if you read it closely, he can't go forward. Legally he can't go forward because they have not done sufficient research into many different areas and so I hope that he's listening,” said Ryan.
A debate both sides are passionate about.
The city of Binghamton currently has a two year ban on hydrofracking. A lawsuit was recently filed with the state Supreme Court on behalf of five plaintiffs to overturn the ban.