WNY Thrown Under the Fracking Bus
Rita Yelda
Western New York Has Been Thrown Under the Fracking Bus (Opinion)
http://growwny.org/whats-new/1287-western-new-york-has-been-thrown-under-the-fracking-bus
A coalition of community members and public interest groups held a press conference Monday, December 19, in front of New York State Senator Mark Grisanti's (Republican - 60th District) 65 Court Street office in Buffalo to tell him they don’t want hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to take place in New York State. Senator Grisanti is head of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee whose mission involves protecting lands in New York. Many gathered outside of the office chanting “hey, hey, ho, ho, fracking has got to go.”
The coalition, which includes the Massachusetts Avenue Project, Western New York Peace Center, The Interfaith Peace Network, Alpha Kappa Chi of the University at Buffalo, PUSH Buffalo, and The Buffalo Board of Block Clubs, among others, presented Senator Grisanti with 35 letters from groups and businesses, and also presented 430 signatures from residents urging him to reject the controversial process.
One cannot help but feel that the New York State (NYS) Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Joe Martens and Governor Cuomo have thrown Western New York under the bus, and though we can claim to have the head of the Environmental Conservation Committee representing us in the senate, we have yet to see results. Western New York could be hit the hardest if fracking moves forward in the state.
Draft regulations released by the NYS DEC recommend that horizontal drilling be banned entirely in the New York City and Syracuse watersheds, but no Western New York watersheds have been protected. Western New York watersheds would be susceptible to contamination from drilling operations, and local residents may be forced to rely on outdated filtration systems as a line of defense. A September 15 letter to Governor Cuomo from 59 scientists, several in the National Academy of Sciences, said, "We urge the state to reconsider its position that existing water filtration systems provide adequate protection against the risk of hydraulic fracturing.” If plans to treat fracked water in Niagara Falls move forward, Western New York will also be left to address waste created by that practice.
Grisanti's district spans over a portion of Niagara Falls, an area that is the first in the state to claim their desire to treat toxic fracking wastewater. Earlier this year the Niagara Falls Water Board was reportedly exploring the possibility of treating toxic wastewater from fracking operations. Many are concerned that the Niagara Falls plant lacks the capacity to filter out radiation or the more than 600 chemicals found in fracking wastewater, and no analysis of the possible impacts of treating this wastewater has been shared with the public. Water from the treatment plant would be released into the Niagara River, which flows into Niagara Falls, Lake Ontario, and other Great Lakes communities, posing serious risks to regional and international resources alike. According to the NYS DEC, 6.6 billion gallons of fracking waste would have to be disposed of each year if fracking is approved in New York State.
A bill moving through the New York State Senate would protect Western New York from wastewater generated by fracking. Senate Bill 4220 would amend the environmental conservation law to prohibit fracking and the disposal and / or processing of any water used in the fracking process.
The DEC’s major study on fracking is incomplete, as no regulatory program for drilling can be effective without a cumulative impact analysis, public health risk assessments, and a clear plan for how to deal with drilling waste. The comment period on the DEC's study ends on January 11, 2012 and time is running out. It would be irresponsible and dangerous for New York to move forward with fracking, given all of the unanswered questions relating to public health and the environment. If our elected representative is not standing up for Western New Yorkers as we're sacrificed to the gas industry, who will?