Below is a copy of Joe Levine’s testimony at the NYC Council meeting last Friday. For those of you who don’t know Joe, he is a resident of both NYC and Milanville/Damascus Township and co-founder of Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, as well as NYH2O (sister organization of DCS).
Good Morning Chairman Gennaro and Committee Members,
I thank you for holding this Hearing and appreciate the opportunity to speak on the subject of hydraulic fracturing gas extraction and the environmental and health impacts.
I am a co-founder and Chairman of NYH2O, a non-profit grass roots advocacy group based in NYC. We are dedicated to protecting NY’s water resources from the threat posed by the gas extraction industry by way of hydraulic fracturing. NYH2O seeks to educate the public concerning the health, environmental and economic impacts of gas drilling as experienced by communities across the country where this intensive industrial activity has taken place. NYH2O will support legislation that safeguards the public from the risk to water resources and air quality that ultimately threatens the health of our community and degrades the natural environment.
As a result of the 2005 Energy Policy Act, hydraulic fracturing was given exemptions from most federal environmental regulations such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Emergency Planning and Community Right To Know Act, National Resource Recovery Act, even the Super Fund Act, and others.
Large areas of NY State overlie the Marcellus shale formation including the Southern Tier, the Catskill/Delaware Watershed and the Large De River. These areas have resources that are absolutely crucial to the health and wealth of our state. Gas drilling is an industrial activity that will turn our beautiful upstate landscape into a sacrificial industrial zone (EWG).
No one should consider this acceptable, but what is of primary importance is the threat to public health from contamination of our water supply. Hydraulic fracturing gas drilling is intrinsically contaminating because the drilling process requires the injection of millions of gallons of fresh water mixed with dangerously toxic chemicals into the ground, which are able to infiltrate groundwater and aquifers. In the concentrated area of the NYC Watershed alone, more than 8 million people depend on this single source of water, as well as the millions more downstream along the No one should .
As we meet here today there are far too many instances of water contamination from gas drilling activities across the country and also in our own backyard. Within 40 miles of the Catskill/Delaware Watershed, in As we , , , there has been recent contamination of water supplies, landscape degradation, gas well explosions, livestock illness and disease. Three chemical spills last month dumped 8,500 gals of fracking fluid into Steven’s Creek, which will make its way into the Susquehanna River and down to Chesapeake Bay.
The Pittsburg municipal water supply system, serving 350,000 people, was temporarily shut down this past spring when drilling wastewater was disposed at a water treatment facility on the Monongahela River. This past week (5 months later) reports of exceedingly high levels of TDS”s were revealed. South of Pittsburg, along the Pennsylvania and West Virginia border, the present ongoing catastrophe is in the Dunkard Creek Watershed where more than 160 species of aquatic life, including unknown thousands of fish were killed in a 35 mile stretch of one of the most biologically diverse streams in the region. Scientists have commented that the biology of that stream is dead. There are hundreds of these incidents being reported from around the country where hydraulic fracturing is in progress. What all these events also have in common is a total denial of any responsibility from the industry doing this work.
A recent study in DISH, Texas (for EWG performed by Al Armendariz,Ph.A recent study in DISH, Texas (for EWG performed by Al Armendariz,Ph.D, Dept of Environmental Engineering at SMU) confirmed that as a result of hydraulic fracturing operations, unacceptably high concentrations of volatile organic chemicals, hazardous air pollutants, carcinogenic and neurotoxin compounds were found in ambient air samples near residential properties. MacArthur Genius Award winning chemist Wilma Subra reviewed this study and commented that, “the chemical concentrations in the air exceed both short and long term health values and will have acute impacts to human health.” President of the Endocrine Disruption Exchange and award winning environmental health expert, Dr. Theo Colborn has said that based upon models from Colorado and other western states, gas production in upstate NY will cause air pollution and ozone levels in a 200 mile radius, as far
After 50 years, we’re still trying to figure out what to do with the PCB’s that were dumped into the Hudson in the 1950’s (the plan is to inject them underground in southeastern New Mexico). And as bad as that is, Marcellus shale gas drilling portends to be worse. Gas drilling is a decentralized operation; it requires hundreds, usually thousands of individual wells to make gas extraction economically viable. In NY State 50,000 to 100,000 or more wells is a reasonable estimate based upon the gas industry’s existing density models out west, and present NY State gas regulations. A spider web of pipelines, feeder and collecting lines, well pads, waste water pits and holding ponds, roads, processing plants and sub-stations, truck traffic at the rate of 1000 trailer trucks per well, clear cutting 250,000 to 500,000 acres of land (250 million trees), forest fragmentation and wildlife and livestock impacts – and of course human health.
With all this, no study has been done that attempts to measure the cumulative impacts of drilling. Not the recently released NY State SGEIS. Obedient to the law (with exemptions), well permits are approved one well at a time, and evaluated one at a time. The only aspect of this process that is presented and evaluated cumulatively is money to be made (potential revenue). What is not considered is how much money will be spent in cumulative externalized costs such as reparations, clean up costs, short and long term illness, water filtration ($10 to $20 Billion) and maintenance costs ($150 million annually), loss of revenue from local upstate economies, such as farming and dairy, tourism, outdoor recreation including fishing and hunting (NYS estimated at $380 billion over a 20 year period vs $22 billion for gas). This equals very short term thinking. Townships and communities upstate are not equipped to handle this.
The cumulative impacts on water alone are staggering. In this crucial time of water awareness – probably never greater, this activity requires enormous quantities of fresh water; 3 to 9 million gallons of water for each well. Wells are fracked multiple times—often up to 10 or 15 times or more, and each fracking operation uses another million gallons of water. All of the water is mixed with toxic chemicals used in the drilling and fracking process. The Endocrine Disruption Exchange (TEDX) has documented more than 350 toxic chemicals in use for hydro-fracking. Approximately half the water returns to the surface after use (processed water) – bringing up with it a host of other naturally occurring materials. This list is known to include heavy metals such as uranium, radium, mercury, lead, and carcinogens such as toluene, benzene and scores of others.
What comes back up has to be treated in a specialized treatment facility before the water is put back into the rivers. Industry talks about the “assimilative capacity” of the rivers. This means how much poison is acceptable. The other half of the water remains underground, able to contaminate aquifers through natural active underground migration processes. These chemicals do not biodegrade they bio-accumulate. TEDX has also proven the cause and effect of chemical introduction to the ground water and aquifer systems as a result of hydraulic fracturing, and abnormally high concentrations of health problems downstream.
Theo Colborn has said that there is evidence out West that this flow back material has been spread out on farmland (bio-composting is how the industry sells it). Here, in the Northeast region as much of this material as possible will be left underground by seepage or injection processes. The more left underground the less to dispose of by other means. This has now become a crucial issue or shall I say dilemma; how to dispose of the drilling production “processed” wastewater. Where will all the water go? There are few treatment facilities capable of handling this toxic waste.
The SGEIS documents several water treatment facilities for disposal. However preliminary research reveals that most of the treatment plants identified are not capable of handling this wastewater, and in fact one facility has recently turned waste water hauling trucks away. Many scientists will tell you that this water cannot be effectively treated. Yet it must be disposed of somewhere. One of the facilities on the list is near Hickory, PA, the home of the first Marcellus wells in PA. Right now over 400 homes in Hickory are on water supply because of contaminated wells. Friends of mine have moved off of their farm because of contamination and it has taken 5 years to get proper water testing done, and they’re still trying to get legal help. Most attorneys who work in this industry – work for the industry.
The impact of this project for NY is immense: Hundred’s of billions of gallons of fresh water mixed with toxic chemicals injected into the ground. 10 to 20 % of the landscape will be bulldozed or otherwise disturbed to facilitate this activity. Even if reparation efforts are made, the destruction of the biodiversity is usually permanent.
I urge you to watch the Josh Fox documentary titled “Rage Against Nature”. Filmed in Texas, Colorado and Wyoming, PA and NY. It depicts an assault on the natural environment where we will be taking care of friends or relatives who have tumors, cancer, blood disorders, or some other serious medical condition. The landscape is battered and industrial.
It is critically important to learn from what occurred out west. There are now models and a track record that cannot be ignored. The northeast is the first region that has had the opportunity to address this issue before the damage is done. The only reason to drill is for money. But the cost is way too high. It’s fundamentally ridiculous to contemplate destruction of our natural environment and precious water resources for what will amount to only a few years of interim energy supply while we continue to put off meaningful progress on sustainable energy technology.
The 2005 Energy Act also gives the O&G Industry subsidies of about $13 Billion, making it quite difficult for alternative energy development to compete. The Urban Design Lab and The Earth Institute at Columbia University have collaborated on a brochure called Hancock and the Marcellus Shale – Visioning the Impacts of Natural Gas Extraction Along The Upper Delaware. Hancock, NY is at the epicenter of the Marcellus shale and within a few miles of the Catskill/Delaware reservoir system. The brochure is an important, informative study.
It discusses the PR about energy independence and national security; a charade perpetrated by the Bush Administration and Industry that this will provide both. This is already proving false as evidenced by the purchase of gas leases by foreign companies who prefer to drill here where they will enjoy the lucrative exemptions from regulation that they don’t at home.
That’s why City Councilman James Gennaro, Chair of the Council’s Environmental Protection Committee (and a geologist) has called for a total ban of hydraulic fracturing gas drilling in the NYC watershed, because the risks are too great. That’s why Assemblyman James Brennan has early on called for a statewide 2 year moratorium and serious environmental impact study by NYDEC, and has drafted specific legislation now wending it’s way through the State Assembly.
Former NYC DEP Commissioner Al Appleton has said in a recent talk; “Industry PR about clean burning natural gas has obscured the dirty and damaging process of extracting it. The industry has the profits to do better and the need to do better if it is to operate successfully not only in New York, but in all of America’s shale basins. Once the toxics from fracturing fluids get into water sources, it will be virtually impossible to get them out. Prevention is the only effective strategy.”
The NYC DEP has recently presented a status report on the findings of the independent EIS they have commissioned, and this precipitated a letter from the Acting DEP Commissioner Steven Lawitts to the State DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis that in essence said that based upon our study, this activity is too risky to be done anywhere near the NYC Watershed.
And it looks like the Federal EPA is now paying attention to this issue on many fronts: Just last week Reuters reported that the EPA rescinded a Bush memorandum which exempted the gas and oil industry from regulations requiring multiple emissions sources – under the Clean Air Act – to be aggregated. The September 22nd Ruling, stated that “…regulators should consider criteria for when projects are grouped together for permitting.’ One of the 3 criteria listed is “…whether they belong to the same industrial activity.” This one issue, Aggregation Policy, might be the single largest issue with respect to any reasonable independent analysis or EIS. That is because this is not about one well – which is how the Industry is currently regulated and how the State EIS proposes to continue to regulate. This is about eventually, ten’s of thousands of wells – factories actually, and the air and water and environmental destruction cumulatively. The recently released NYS SGEIS does more to appease industry in it’s stunning lack of cumulative impact or aggregation requirements. This is being ignored to facilitate drilling. This is a recipe for disaster.
An incredible network of grass roots organizations have sprouted up over this one issue – scores across NYS alone including, and more than 160 recently established groups have determined that the stakes are too high on this issue.
NY State Congressman Maurice Hinchey has noted that there have been more than a thousand documented cases of water contamination and other problems associated with this drilling practice. NYS DEC and Industry together have claimed a perfect record in NY State regarding drilling operations. However a Freedom of Information Request performed by EWG has revealed that the DEC has not kept any records regarding drilling operations. Congressman Hinchey is a sponsor of the FRAC Act, now pending in the US Congress, and NY Senator Charles Schumer is a sponsor of the Senate version.
Manhattan Boro President Scott Stringer, State Senator Tom Duane, and many other elected officials, CB’s and environmental organizations have requested that the NYSDEC hold more statewide hearings on the SGEIS, including hearings in each of the NYC boroughs, and extend the review and comment period from 30 to 120 days so that there is adequate time to review and comment on the documents that will determine and govern if and how we proceed with this project.
The potential downside of this project is unimaginable. The quality of our water and air and upstate environment are at stake.
I have one more comment pertaining to the Resolution that this Council will write on this issue. Figure out a way to protect the entire state. Not just because of the incredible good will it will create, but because NYC thrives on the bounty from Upstate. We won’t be the same without it.
Thank you very much,
Joe Levine
Chair and Co-Founder NYH20
