EPA’s Judith Enck Critiques NY Fracking Regulations
The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) filed a 26-page critique of New York’s draft hydraulic fracturing regulations, known as the SGEIS, three hours before the filing deadline on Wednesday (a copy of the letter is embedded below). This is the same EPA that just started a multi-year study of fracking that’s not due to be completed until 2014. Funny how they can be experts on fracking now, although their plan for how to study fracking was only released two months ago and they’ve barely begun to study it (see this MDN story).
This is also the same EPA who decided there was no problem with drinking water in Dimock, then said there’s gaps in the data, decided to ship water to Dimock residents, recanted on the water shipments less than 24 hours later, and has been silent since. Yeah, that EPA.
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Today is the latest deadline from New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Joe Martens to file comments on New York’s proposed new drilling rules, known as the SGEIS. Yesterday, both pro- and anti-drilling groups descended on Albany with thousands of letters of support (or opposition). Prior to yesterday the DEC reported having received over 20,000 written statements. That number, after yesterday, is likely to double.
Yesterday, all eyes were on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his second “State of the State” address, delivered in Albany. The popular governor has walked a tightrope on the issue of hydraulic fracturing, but after yesterday’s speech, MDN wonders if he’s fallen off that tightrope.
It now looks as though the fracking ban in Binghamton, NY will stay in place for the next two years. Binghamton City Council voted to pass the legislation Wednesday night (
After a 3 1/2 hour public hearing and a short recess, Binghamton (NY) City Council last night convened in regular session to vote on several matters, including Local Law 11-7, a law “to effect a prohibition of natural gas and petroleum exploration and extraction activities, underground storage of natural gas, and disposal of natural gas or petroleum extraction, exploration and production wastes.” City Council members voted 6-1 in favor of the two-year ban on fracking, joining other cities around the state like Buffalo and Syracuse that have done the same.
New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Joe Martens continues the delay and stall tactics he’s become known for on the issue of shale gas drilling in the state. The latest Martens delay came this week when he asked an outside consulting firm—Ecology & Environment—to take a closer look at costs fracking would create for local communities.