Earlier this month, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC”) issued draft rules governing natural gas drilling without banning this dangerous activity in the watershed supplying drinking water to New York City.  We needed the strongest possible environmental protection, and instead we got half measures.

The first step has been taken toward correcting this mistake.  The State announced yesterday evening that a public hearing will be held in New York City, at Stuyvesant High School, the evening of November 10.  That will be the place for State officials to hear from the people of New York City.  We have 47 days left before the end of the public comment period to demand a ban on gas drilling in the Catskill / Delaware watershed.  I am confident that once New Yorkers have spoken their piece, sanity will be restored, and hydraulic fracturing will be banned in the watershed.