Maurice Hinchey Urges Governor Cuomo to Withdraw SGEIS Draft

Congressman Lists 10 Problems with Regulations

Washington, DC - Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) today urged Governor Andrew Cuomo to withdraw the revised draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (dSGEIS) on high-volume horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale and other areas of New York State. Hinchey says the current form of the dSGEIS fails to address many of his concerns with the initial draft and also does not account for new information that has been discovered about the environmental, public health and economic risks associated with the natural gas drilling activity.

In a letter to Governor Cuomo, Hinchey wrote that "Despite the hard work and sincere efforts by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to update the dSGEIS, I believe this document falls far short of what is needed to protect local communities from the risks posed by shale gas drilling and does not fully mitigate potential threats, including those to public health, drinking water, air quality, and municipal infrastructure."

Hinchey highlighted 10 specific problems with the current dSGEIS that he said must be addressed before the state permits any drilling:

1. The lack of a cumulative impact analysis of natural gas drilling in the Marcellus formation to understand the full impact drilling could have on our water resources, air quality, local roads and other public infrastructure.
2. The lack of a full assessment of the public health impacts of gas drilling through an independent Health Impact Analysis, as called for by more than 250 health care professionals in an October 2011 letter to Governor Cuomo.
3. The lack of a comprehensive wastewater treatment plan that details where and how large amounts of flowback and produced water will be treated or disposed, including how toxic or radioactive contaminants will be removed.
4. The failure to prohibit the use of toxic chemicals in all fracturing fluids in order to prevent groundwater and surface water contamination.
5. No requirement to publicly disclose all chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing fluid at each well site, including a proposed list of chemicals made public before drilling operations begin and the final list of chemicals and quantities used made public no later than 30 days after drilling operations are completed.
6. The absence of a plan to identify New York areas prone to higher seismic activity and measures to prevent earthquakes potentially associated with horizontal hydraulic fracturing.
7. The failure to require a dramatic increase in DEC resources and staffing devoted to the permitting and oversight activities related to high-volume hydraulic fracturing.
8. No complete ban on land spreading of shale gas drilling waste fluids or prohibition on the use of reserve pits or centralized impoundments for fracking fluids and flowback water.
9. No alignment of DEC's gas drilling permit rules with the requirements of secondary lending institutions covering oil and gas activity on mortgaged properties. These include pre-approval from banks and other lenders before signing gas leases, minimum setback requirements from residential structures, prohibition on certain drilling and process equipment, title insurance requirements, property assessments, and more.
10. A failure to provide for an enhanced role for local governments to prohibit gas development that is incompatible with local land-use and zoning regulations.

In December 2009, Hinchey provided comments on the initial draft of the SGEIS. The new draft partially addressed some of his initial concerns. Since that time, new information about the environmental and public health risks associated with hydraulic fracturing has come to light.

Hinchey is a leader in the effort to protect drinking water and the environment from the risks of hydraulic fracturing. He is a co-author of the FRAC Act, which would mandate public disclosure of chemicals used in frack fluid and allow the EPA to regulate fracking activities under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The congressman also authored the appropriations language that led to the current EPA study on hydraulic fracturing.

A copy of Hinchey's letter to Governor Cuomo can be found here .

Protest Fracking of the Delaware River basin on Nov 21

SAVE THE DELAWARE from JFOX on Vimeo.

Saying Yes to Alternative Energy - Saying NO to Fracking

A few of years ago we learned about hydraulic fracturing for natural gas at our local, yearly Ithaca Parade. There was a curious float all decked out with anti-fracking signs. It was clear the float was against some kind of fossil fuel energy. It was equally clear that the people walking with the float were wanting to get our attention.

When we returned home, Doug and I began researching fracking. What we discovered was that it was something that was already occurring in many places around the world, including most other States in the US. Many of the dangers of fracking were being revealed publicly by our neighbours in Pennsylvania.

According to Dr Sandra Steingraber, hydraulic fracturing would directly and negatively impact the fresh water supply in our area, and remove hundreds of thousands of fresh water from our water cycle forever:



The Catskill Citizens for Safe Energystated that "despite a three year de facto moratorium on high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing, more than 10,000 oil and gas wells have already been fracked in New York State, and that number is growing every day." People were already turning on taps in their homes to find methane coming out:



Not to mention:

* the hidden dangers from cocktail of chemicals (yet to be fully disclosed) that are used by Halliburton in the hydraulic fracturing process,

* the documented negative affects to air quality around the region of the wells,

* the loss in property value to those who lease their land to the gas companies for drilling,

* and the depletion and pollution of our valuable agricultural lands, especially the local family farms that sustain us.

So, to make a long story a little less long, Doug and I set out to turn off our gas. We have finally gotten the Geothermal system installed:

Several months ago we made the decision to install Geothermal in our home.

We were all excited to see the drill arrive. Ironically, this is a similar kind of drill to the ones that drill the fracking wells in our area. Ethan thinks they should all be converted to Geothermal work.

Most of the hoses were in by this point. They needed to be looped together in a trench system, filled with water and non-toxic, biodegradable propylene glycol (an antifreeze), directed into our house, and, finally, looped into the heat exhange pump system on the furnace. It was truly amazing to have heat from the earth coming out of the vents of our house!


This is what the system looks like in our home. It is attached to our hot water tank, because the leftover heat that is generated by the heat exchange unit is used to heat our water, giving us about 80% free hot water as a bonus. Heating and cooling our home (I've never lived in a place with cooling!) should cost us less than $30 per month.

This is where the underground system of tubing come into our home.

Today we signed up to have the gas to our home turned off! How great that felt!

Next step...sustainable electricity. While we do buy a good many wind credits, we still use coal as the primary source of electric power in our area. That also needs to change.

Chief Raoni Cries

The chief Raoni cries when he learns that Brazilian president Dilma released the beginning of construction of the hydroelectric plant of Belo Monte, even after tens of thousands of letters and emails addressed to her and which were ignored as the more than 600,000 signatures. That is, the death sentence of the peoples of Great Bend of the Xingu river is enacted. Belo Monte will inundate at least 400,000 hectares of forest, an area bigger than the Panama Canal, thus expelling 40,000 indigenous and local populations and destroying habitat valuable for many species - all to produce electricity at a high social, economic and environmental cost, which could easily be generated with greater investments in energy efficiency.

There's a petition you can sign against the building of the dam - here.

Sir David Attenborough Talks About Plastic

Stand Against Nestle Water Grab

Breaking news: Last night, Nestlé Waters announced that it is abandoning plans to pump the Wacissa River to manufacture bottled water.

Over the last 15 years, Nestlé’s water grab in rural America has been ugly. Nestlé has made backroom deals with public officials against widespread public objection and even tried to bankrupt community groups with lengthy legal battles. The community of Wacissa was no exception to Nestlé’s bullying.

In April, over 1,400 people contacted Nestlé Water's CEO Kim Jeffery calling on the corporation to stop undermining local control of water and pull out of Wacissa.

Then dozens of people across the country chipped in to run a full-page ad in the local paper exposing the corporation’s long history of undermining community water rights. On the ground organizing by the Friends of the Wacissa, backed by the ad and national media exposure, led to a groundbreaking resolution being passed in Jefferson County. The resolution called on the water management board to deny permits like Nestlé’s to pump and sell water from the headwaters of the Wacissa.

Let's create a Wacissa Victory Fund to support other communities working to protect their springs from Nestlé's water grab. Your donation will fund local and national media work, online ads and trainings for activists to bring Nestlé's backroom deals to the light of day.

If just 110 of us donate a small amount, we can seize this moment to build a rapid response fund to support communities challenging Nestlé. Click here to chip in. 

Across the U.S., Nestlé is trying to control water resources to profit at the expense of the environment. Nestlé's strategy is to lock in support from local public officials and seal the deal before the community has a chance to have a voice.

The Wacissa Victory Fund will give us the ability to respond when it matters most – before the drilling starts – and partner with local activists to wage and win campaigns that combine on the ground organizing with media exposure and online organizing that gets results.

Let’s protect more communities from Nestlé's water grab. Click here to donate.

As the people of Wacissa celebrate today, we know that there is more work ahead. Our movement is showing that the people can take on Nestlé and win – let’s build the movement.

Onward,

Kristin Urquiza
Think Outside the Bottle Campaign Director

Plastic: A Toxic Love Story

"FREINKEL'S SMART, WELL-WRITTEN ANALYSIS OF THIS LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP IS LIKELY TO MAKE PLASTIC LOVERS TAKE PAUSE, PLASTIC HATERS RELUCTANTLY REALIZE ITS VALUE, AND ALL OF US UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF INDIVIDUAL ACTION, POLITICAL WILL, AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION IN WEANING US OFF OUR ADDICTION TO SYNTHETICS."—Publisher's Weekly

Buy a copy of Plastic: A Toxic Love Story by Susan Freinkel from Amazon.com or your favorite local bookstore.