Coalition of Elected Officials and Advocates Join Stringer in Announcing “Kill the Drill” Campaign to Add Ban to Draft Drilling Rules; Confirms Pledge by Governor to Hold Public Hearing in NYC

Thursday, October 1, 2009 (New York, NY) - Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer, joined by a coalition of elected officials including City Council Environmental Protection Committee Chair James F. Gennaro and top environmental advocates, today demanded that the State environmental agency’s plan for natural gas drilling be modified to include an outright ban on drilling in the Catskill / Delaware watershed, which supplies 90 percent of New York City’s drinking water.

In addition, the Borough President announced the launch of “Kill the Drill,” a campaign by city residents to voice opposition to any hydraulic fracturing in the city’s upstate watershed. Borough President Stringer also said that he had received the Governor’s commitment that a public hearing on the matter will be held in New York City sometime during the period for public comment on the drilling plan.

Borough President Stringer said, “This is an issue that every New Yorker should pay attention to. Today we start a campaign with one clear goal: to make certain that before this State’s draft plan becomes law, it includes a ban on drilling for natural gas in the city’s upstate watershed.”

“The State’s safeguards are half measures,” continued the Borough President. “No special permit or buffer zone can prevent the kind of human error that has resulted in the pollution of freshwater from Pennsylvania to Colorado. An outright ban is the best protection, and anything less than the best protection for our drinking water is a bad choice.”

The State’s draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, issued yesterday, states that of the 1,549 square miles making up the Catskill / Delaware watershed, “1,077 square miles of the Watershed that are not protected potentially are available for the placement of well pads for the development of shale gas reservoirs.” (Draft SGEIS 9/30/2009, Page 2-22.) Sixty-nine percent (69.5%) of the watershed is open to drilling.

Just last week, state regulators closed down a hydraulic fracturing gas drilling operation near Dimock, Pennsylvania in Susquehanna County after three chemical spills occurred in less than a week.

In “Uncalculated Risk,” a report issued in February 2009 by the Manhattan Borough President’s Office, 14 examples of significant freshwater contamination were documented in 9 different states, with more than 24 incidents of environmental harm catalogued in total.

Borough President Stringer said, “I believe the choice is simple: we either correct this error and ban drilling now, or soon enough the officials entrusted with protecting our environment will be asked to explain why they were asleep at the switch when it mattered most.”

The draft SGEIS released yesterday by the Department of Environmental Conservation proposes rules for governing natural gas production in upstate New York through the use of a drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing. DEC has announced a 60-day public comment period. 

The 809-page SGEIS can be found here http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/47554.html.

Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum said, "I want to thank Borough President Stringer for his continued efforts to safeguard the upstate watersheds as well as the environment and health of all New Yorkers. The state should not proceed with any action that could potentially taint the water supply."

City Council Environmental Protection Committee Chair James F. Gennaro said, “We simply cannot afford to jeopardize the health and financial well-being of New Yorkers by allowing the natural gas industry to undertake large-scale development in the Catskill / Delaware watershed; the assurance of clean, safe and reasonably priced drinking water for millions must take precedence over the desires of the gas industry to drill in areas whose protection is necessary to safeguard our public water supply for future generations of New Yorkers. The environmental impact statement starts a process of evaluating these concerns, but I remain skeptical that the protective measures go far enough to protect the largest municipal drinking water supply in the nation.”

State Senator Thomas K. Duane said, “For more than a year I, along with other elected officials and environmental advocates, have demanded that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ban drilling in proximity to municipal and local water supplies. While this environmental impact statement demonstrates that the agency has studied the catastrophes caused by natural gas drilling around the nation, the proposed mitigation measures do not go far enough.  It is inconceivable and unacceptable that the measures do not include a ban on high-volume hydraulic fracturing in and around New York City’s watershed and, indeed, in all water supplies statewide.”

State Senator Daniel L. Squadron said, "When it comes to New York City's water supply, we only have one chance. Drilling for natural gas in the watershed that supplies our drinking water is too risky. We can’t begin any practice today that will jeopardize our drinking water in the future.”

Assembly Member Deborah J. Glick said, “It is imperative for New York State to learn from the mistakes of other states. Hydrofracking creates enormous amounts of damage to the environment for questionable gain. The growing concern about fresh water-throughout the world- demands that any action that has the potential to damage the quality and quantity of our water supply must be rejected.”

Assembly Member Richard N. Gottfried said, “I don’t think the mitigation measures in the SGEIS will protect our water supply from contamination. I support State legislation that would place a moratorium on this kind of drilling. Just one mistake with hydro-fracture drilling can be extremely hazardous. In this case, one mistake could endanger the health and safety of millions of people.”

Council Member Daniel R. Garodnick said, “When it comes to New York City's water supply, we simply cannot take any chances. Allowing gas drilling in the watershed opens us up to unnecessary health risks and jeopardizes the $1.5 billion investment we have already made in our watershed protection program.”

Council Member Jessica Lappin said, “By failing to ban drilling in New York's upstate watershed, the DEC is taking a huge gamble and they're betting the health and well being of New York's residents. This was just the wrong decision.”

Natural Resources Defense Council’s New York City Environment Director Eric A. Goldstein said, “New York City’s drinking water supply is its single most valuable capital asset.  And it is unwise from both a public health and economic standpoint for the state to seek to advance industrial gas drilling around our reservoirs. This is not a situation well-suited for half-measures or after-the-fact clean-ups; city residents are still waiting to hear from the state that polluting activities like industrial gas drilling will not be permitted on lands that provide 90% of their drinking water supply.”

Riverkeeper President Alex Matthiessen said, “From everything we’ve learned about the hazards of hydraulic fracturing, it is difficult to imagine how any restrictions will be sufficient to safeguard surface drinking water supplies. While we will reserve making an ultimate judgment until we have thoroughly reviewed the draft environmental statement, we are highly skeptical of any regulations that fall short of a permanent ban on hydraulic fracturing for sensitive water supply areas such as the New York City Watershed.”

Earthjustice Managing Attorney Deborah Goldberg said, “We’ve said all along that we’d like to see New York set the standard with its drilling regulations – not play catch-up. We’ve seen far too much drilling-related contamination right next door in Pennsylvania - and elsewhere in the country - where regulatory programs are plainly inadequate to prevent sometimes irreversible environmental and public health catastrophes. Drilling permits should not be issued in New York until we are certain that we have done all that we can to protect our communities and our natural resources.”

The Sierra Club’s Atlantic Chapter Energy Committee Chair Annie Wilson said, “The most dangerous threats to our city's drinking watershed are the hydrofracking chemicals used for gas extraction, and the Indian Point nuclear facility in Buchanan.”

To read the full Uncalculated Risk report click here