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This letter is being reproduced from Catskill Citizens for Clean Energy.

Tell Paterson to Remove Grannis!

Under Commissioner Pete Grannis, the NYS DEC has concealed the Department’s shoddy safety record and misled the public about what’s really in fracking fluid.which is found on the home page of the website:  http://catskillcitizens.org/.

Throughout 2008, when the gas industry was actively leasing land for shale gas extraction, the DEC misled the public by refusing to acknowledge that high-volume hydraulic fracturing of horizontal shale gas wells would be significantly different than previous gas drilling operations in New York State. Director Field’s mantra that hydraulic fracturing “has been going on in New York for decades”1 seemed deliberately designed to lull the public into thinking that the Marcellus Shale gas play would resemble the low-volume fracturing operations that we had seen in the past.  Numerous inquiries to the Division of Mineral Resources prompted unsigned responses claiming that nothing new or different would be involved.

Also in 2008, the DEC succeeded in pushing a new well-spacing bill though the state legislature with little debate and scant public scrutiny. Although this “departmental” bill”2 was explicitly designed to facilitate the drilling of gigantic horizontal wells  which threaten to radically alter the landscape of western New York, Commissioner  Grannis  disingenuously characterized it as “a technical program bill [that] had nothing to do with anything related to environmental protections.”3   Instead he claimed it was “designed to protect adjacent landowners”.4

This bill was quickly moved out of Committee and passed late at night, on the last day of the legislative session.  Some lawmakers later complained that they weren’t even aware of the bill’s existence until hours before they were to vote on it. 5   Elected officials in New York City, and the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, also felt blindsided by the swift enactment of this law which had enormous implications for the integrity of the city’s watershed.6

At a time when New Yorkers were just becoming aware of the dangers posed by toxic chemicals used in fracking fluid, the DEC misled the public by asserting that “Marcellus shale fracing operations in New York State use fresh water, sand, nitrogen and a diluted soapy solution to fracture the shale. These frac fluids do not contain benzene, toluene or xylene.“7   This May 2008 email from the DEC failed to mention any of the toxic chemicals used in fracking fluids except to say three dangerous chemicals were not used in New York.  Of course we now know that the DEC was not telling the truth – fracking fluids contain dozens of chemicals including benzene, toluene and xylene.8

Perhaps most frustrating of all, New Yorkers have had to listen to Commissioner Grannis and Director Field parrot the industry line that there has not been “one instance of drinking water contamination in over one million frack jobs”.9

All over the country water wells have exploded or been rendered unusable because they have been contaminated by fracking fluid, methane or total dissolved solids due to nearby fracking operations. It’s bad enough to hear industry flacks claim that none of these case count as contamination, but it’s outrageous to hear this absurd claim coming from the very people who should be studying these environmental disasters, and trying to find a way to avoid repeating them in New York.

This manifest indifference to the harm caused by drilling accidents is infuriating.  On at least one occasion, Mr. Field falsely dismissed an accident in Brookfield, New York as one where “a bit got stuck and muddied up a bunch of water wells.”10   This is a false and remarkably insensitive description of an incident in which some water wells were completely destroyed and others were left unusable for months on end.11

1. Director Field speaking at a public meeting in Liberty, New York July 1, 2008.

2. Commissioner Grannis testifying before the New York City Council Commission on Environmental Protection.  September 10, 2008.  Page 44 of the transcript.

3. Ibid.  Page 45 of the transcript.

4. Ibid.  Page 47 of the transcript.

5.  ”This issue came to my attention when a bill regarding well spacing appeared before the Assembly for a vote with very little time to review the issue.”  Testimony of Assembly Member Deborah Glick before the New York City Council Commission on Environmental Protection.  September 10, 2008.  Page 87 of the transcript.

6. See the remarks of Committee on Environmental Protection Chair James Gennaro.  Transcript of hearing, September 10, 2008.

7.   In a email message dated 5/28/2008 2:50:28 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

dmnog@gw.dec.state.ny.us wrote:   “Industry has used horizontal well drilling in New York since the late 1980s. Hydraulic fracturing has been commonly and safely used in New York State for decades. Marcellus shale fracing operations in New York State use fresh water, sand, nitrogen and a diluted soapy solution to fracture the shale. These frac fluids do not contain benzene, toluene or xylene.”

8. Draft SGEIS pp 5.34-5.66.

9. Director Field speaking at a public meeting in Liberty, New York July 1, 2008.

See also this exchange between Commissioner Grannis and Assemblyman Jim Bacalles before the New York State Assembly Committee on Environmental Conservation, October 15, 2009

ASSEMBLYMAN JIM BACALLES:  Pete, you mentioned that we have been fracing gas wells for a long time …But are you aware of anywhere where a drinking well or any kind of watershed has been affected by that drilling that’s been going on for 20 years or so?

MR. GRANNIS: We are not Jim. We have no reports of, you know, there are accidental spills that take place on the sites, but we have no reports of water contamination associated with.

Page 79 of transcript

10.  Director Field speaking at a public meeting in Liberty, New York July 1, 2008.

11. The following articles originally appeared in the Syracuse Post:

SOME STILL WAIT FOR THEIR WATER BROOKFIELD SUPERVISOR SAYS MANY PROBLEMS WITH WELLS REMAIN UNSOLVED.  Alaina Potrikus Staff writer

Nearly three months after an accident at a natural gas drilling site caused some backyard water wells to turn into geysers, some North Brookfield residents are still relying on bottled water to meet their daily needs.

Tell Paterson to Remove Grannis!

Under Commissioner Pete Grannis, the NYS DEC has concealed the Department’s shoddy safety record and misled the public about what’s really in fracking fluid.

Note from Brian: I’ve written about the lies about “vertical is the same as horizontal,” and “they’ve been doing this for years,” and “there has never been any contamination.” You’d really have to be as dense as a fence post to still buy that stuff, but still people will believe anything if they are offered “free money” to believe it. It’s like the tooth fairy.

You can read more about it at these posts:

http://otegony.com/they-dont-even-lie-well

http://otegony.com/spinning-the-truth-about-horizontal-fracturing

Mayor Calvin Tillman from Dish Texas will speak about the impact of natural gas drilling in his town

Tuesday, Feb. 16th 7 pm
12 Ford Avenue, Oneonta
Hosted by the Unitarian Universalist Society of Oneonta Gas Drilling Task Force

Calvin Tillman of Dish, Texas, will speak about the challenges his town faces as gas pipelines and compressors have come to his area. The town of Dish hosts eleven massive natural gas compressors, four metering stations, eleven high-pressure gas lines, and numerous gas wells and gathering lines, which have created extraordinary emission levels and serious health problems in the community.

There has been a massive campaign by less-than-scrupulous people to discredit this man. You can read about it at Drilling Reform for Texas

Why is it that people who are doing the wrong thing have to use false logic to attack the people are trying to prevent them from hurting themselves and others?

Here is an example of a person who either ignorantly or willfully would have you believe that the kind of drilling that is being proposed  NY is the relatively benign kind that has already been done for years :

Besides her attempt to mislead people about that, she also insists that, “Drilling methods have been used in New York and across the country for years with no significant problems.”

Really? As far as horizontal fracking, “…no significant problems” is a subjective. If you are not one of the many people who’s well has been poisoned by spills, who’s air is polluted to the point of 25% of your town having asthma, who’s running faucet can be lighted with a match, or who’s house has been blown up by gas leaks (among many other things) then, sure, there have been no significant problems.

On the other hand, if you care at all about anything other than the possibility of getting some money from an industry with no respect for individuals at the expense of your community, public health and safety, then sure, no problem.

That article starts with, “I have been an environmentalist my whole life.” She is using the wrong tense, it should have read, “I had been an environmentalist my whole life, but now…“

You don’t have to be Nostradamus to predict what happens to an area once a predatory industry decides it’s worth plundering. See the Donnan.com article about what Marcellus Shale Gas Drilling is doing to Hickory, Pennsylvania.

Here’s an except:

They say “fools rush in.” Are the good folks of Pennsylvania being caught unawares by all this? Will the citizens of New York State be the next to jeopardize their precious water resources? Whatever those answers are, they probably won’t be very long in coming.

Who wants to be next?

A region is discovering that the price of the economic boom from natural gas drilling may be irreversible environmental damage and residents’ peace of mind

A telling article by Rona Kobell in the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay’s “Bay Journal” describes the bitter disappointment of communities who’ve been duped by the illusion of the “Natural Gas Boom.”

Excerpts:

When the natural gas companies descended on Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale two years ago, it felt like a Gold Rush. And everyone seemed to be hitting pay dirt…

But now, with nearly 700 Marcellus wells drilled throughout the state, the environmental costs of drilling are becoming clear… It has transformed some of the state’s most beautiful landscapes into industrial zones and brought hardship to some who thought it was their lifeline.

“The regular folk out here will never see the compensation they deserve, and their original water supply is forever gone,” Switzer said. “I’m never going to make any money on this. All I’ve lost is my soul.”

Read the entire “Bay Journal” article here.

If you want to know the real story, talk to people who have made the mistake that many are considering making now. Watch, for example:

Candace Mingins – Gas Drilling: Stories From the Front Line

“We had sold the land out from under our children and their children, and no amount of money is worth that.

“Unconventional gas drilling is a nasty business, and I venture to guess that there are hundreds, maybe thousands of lease landowner’s who as they learn what this new gas drilling entails wish that they had never signed.

“A contract between an individual and a multinational corporation is never on an even playing field.”

Link to the entire story

A lot of us wonder what we can do besides sign some petitions, write some letters, etc (Although all of those things are good and necessary.)

One thing we can do is let our friends know about the predicament the gas industry and it’s cronies are putting us in, and how that predicament will soon be coming to a town near them.

A good way is to cut and paste the following message into an e-mail and send it to your intelligent out-of-state friends and family:

Continue Reading »

For a lot of people, the promise of “free money” doesn’t raise the red flags that it should. People want to believe in Santa Claus, and that they can win the lottery, even if they lose thousands of dollars buying lottery tickets year after year.

If someone offered those people all the thousands back that they had squandered, they’d take them in a minute (and probably throw them away again on more lottery tickets!)

The point is, that early on, people find all the reasons they can to convince themselves that something is good, even though they really know better.
Continue Reading »

The title is a little misleading. What we are trying to do is ban unconventional (high-pressure horizontal hydraulic fracturing) of shale deposits like the Marcellus and Utica deposits (or what the gas industry likes to call “plays”) in New York State.

The following is from the EarthJustice site. Please read it and click the link to go and sign their petition to the DEC to extend the public comment period on the Draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) to 120 days.

The gas drilling industry is at New York’s doorstep, clamoring for access to underground reserves and demanding the right to blast millions of gallons of chemically-treated water into the earth to extract the gas.

And we’re facing the fight of our lives to keep them at bay while we determine how to keep New Yorkers safe from the toxic chemicals used in the drilling.

We’d hoped state officials would help. But they seem just as eager as industry to start the drilling—giving New Yorkers just 60 days to weigh in on the state’s plan to oversee what’s poised to be an unprecedented scale of industrial activity.

Among the deficiencies we’ve identified so far with the state plan: in the entire 800-page document there’s not a single rule that industry will have to follow. The state’s proposal gives state officials unbridled discretion to decide whether and when to impose protections. Without rules that are transparent, consistent, and enforceable, you better believe that drillers will lobby for exceptions at every turn.

Tell Governor David Paterson and the state Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis to extend the public comment period to 120 days. And while you’re at it, tell them we need the gas drilling industry to be following rules—not the toothless, piecemeal permitting approach outlined in the plan.

We’ve seen what happens when the government tries to speed up the approval process. Next door in Pennsylvania, drilling has ramped up quickly, with more than 1,100 permits in the first eight months of 2009. Last month, the state shut down one company’s operations after three chemical spills at one drilling site in less than a week.

At stake is the water we drink, the air we breathe, the soil in which we grow our food and the scenic landscapes that feed our spirit. Before the rigs move in from Texas, we need time to make sure these precious resources are protected.

Tell Governor David Paterson and DEC that industry doesn’t get to dictate the timetable for drilling—the people do.

Sign the petition here.