Hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, is the method Halliburton and other companies use to harvest natural gas. This process involves shooting a highly pressurized stream of water, sand and chemicals deep into the ground, ground that includes 90% of the watershed that New York City relies on for its fresh drinking water. What exactly these chemicals include is information Halliburton refuses to disclose, but the Bureau of Land Management suspects the use of around 300 chemicals, 65 of which have been declared hazardous. These dangerous chemicals have been linked to instances of leukemia, organ failure and rare tumors.

Council Member Jessica Lappin introduced legislation at the July 29 meeting of the City Council, calling on congress to pass the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act (FRAC Act) of 2009. This act would close the loophole that is threatening New York’s water reservoirs.

“New Yorkers have a right to know what chemicals will be injected into the ground in and around the Catskill/Delaware watershed before deciding whether the potential risks to the city’s unfiltered water supply outweigh the financial boom that natural gas drilling could produce,” said Borough President Stringer.  "Congress now has an opportunity to bring hydraulic fracturing back into the EPA’s regulatory fray.”

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