As a member of the Assembly’s Committee on Environmental Conservation, I have been working closely with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) on an update of the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) for horizontal drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing, to develop the Marcellus Shale. A current moratorium on horizontal drilling remains in place while comprehensive peer review studies are being conducted on topics such as drinking water quality and cumulative impacts.
I represent landowners, people who belong to environmental organizations and community residents who are concerned about the prospect of gas drilling in the Southern Tier. I’ve spent a great deal of time studying the issue, listening to people’s views and seeing firsthand how gas drilling is being done in other places.
I want to make my own position on this issue clear: I support safe drilling. But I want to stress in the strongest possible terms that I take the word “safe” very, very seriously.
The “safe” part of safe drilling isn’t just about our environment. It’s about our health. And it’s also about our economy. If we don’t do this right, if we don’t take a long-term view that includes careful consideration of the whole picture, we’ll fail to protect our environment and our health, and we’ll fail to reap long-term economic benefits for our community and state.
I’m working with all sides of the debate to understand the drilling process, learn what has gone right and what has gone wrong in other places. All of these aspects are important in determining what it will take for safe drilling to become a reality in New York State.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation has been given the arduous task of rewriting the state’s drilling requirements. It has already announced that drilling in the New York City and Syracuse watersheds will require more stringent rules, if drilling even proceeds there at all. We’re waiting now for the DEC to complete its Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement. In the meantime, there remains a moratorium on drilling in NYS.
I expect DEC’s drilling policies will be the strictest in the country. I would strongly urge everyone to give DEC a chance to complete its work before second-guessing the outcome. That’s why I have not supported legislation that imposes additional moratoriums on the process.
Recently, I’ve seen two documentaries, “Gasland” and “Gas Odyssey,” that provide different perspectives on the risks and benefits of drilling. There are lessons to be learned from both documentaries. In the end, sound public policy-making requires us to listen to all sides of a debate. But it also requires us to make a decision — one that is based on the facts, our values and what we judge to be best for the public good.
As we move forward on this critically important issue, I’ll be working hard to responsibly and deliberatively represent the best interests of our community and state. For everyone’s sake, we need to get this right.
I’ve also provided testimony to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at their recent hearing on hydraulic fracturing. A study at the federal level aims to provide national guidance on the topic of hydraulic fracturing. In some ways, New York is ahead of EPA in its study of the same topic.
In my testimony, I suggested several research questions for the EPA to consider as they establish the parameters of their study.
- Are there other viable fracturing practices (for example: the use of non-toxic or “green” fracturing fluids, or the use of propane gas for fracturing, etc.)?
- Does the fracturing process create fault lines that could provide migratory pathways for fracturing fluids, or for substances from other strata such as methane, to reach local water supplies?
- Are there reliable tests that can guarantee the integrity of well casings prior to the fracturing process?
As we all know, drilling is a very emotional issue – one that has split communities apart. Rather than taking sides in this matter, I have chosen instead to look toward the outcome of the various studies that are underway. It is important that we take the time to engage in good, sound science – science that is not tainted by political agendas. We can proceed accordingly once our questions are adequately answered.