Groups flood DEC with fracking concerns

ALBANY -- A coalition of groups yesterday delivered more than 12,000 comments expressing health and environmental concerns about a drilling process used to reach natural gas that's being considered in New York.

It was a last-minute deluge of opinion submitted the day before a four-month comment period comes to a close on the state's environmental impact review and proposed regulations.

NY Water Rangers delivered the comments to the Department of Environmental Conservation, which already had received nearly 21,000 comments as of Monday. Environmental groups also gave Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo nearly 500 letters and a petition with more than 20,000 signatures citing what they consider serious flaws in the oversight plan drafted by the DEC.

A pro-drilling landowners' group submitted comments signed by 10,000 members yesterday, and a coalition of residents, businesses, labor and political leaders rallied in Albany and four upstate cities to support natural gas development.

Opponents say water supplies are threatened by shale gas development using hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," which stimulates well production by injecting millions of gallons of water laced with chemicals down the well bore to crack surrounding shale.

Supporters of the technique say proposed regulations will prevent environmental harm while drilling brings thousands of jobs and other economic benefits.

Even environmental groups, which once viewed shale gas extraction as an attractive energy alternative to coal or oil production, are split over whether regulations can protect against damage from fracking; many of the comments submitted to DEC demand an outright ban.

A coalition of environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Earthjustice, Riverkeeper and Catskill Mountainkeeper, said yesterday its review of the DEC's document showed the proposed permitting guidelines and regulations are so flawed the whole document needs to be redone.

Among the deficiencies in the DEC document cited by the coalition are:

No plan for disposal of millions of gallons of hazardous wastewater;

No assessment of potential human health impacts;

An inadequate evaluation of cumulative impacts of thousands of wells.

Brad Gill, executive director of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York, urged DEC to complete work on its environmental review and regulations and allow drilling to begin in the massive Marcellus Shale formation, which extends from southern New York across parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. Permitting has been on hold in New York since the DEC review began in 2008.

The industry group said repeated delays in the environmental study have resulted in lost jobs, and overregulation will make it too expensive for energy companies to drill in New York.