New Yorkers: Protect Your Family's Health- Stop the Rush to Frack
There are just 3 days to save New Yorkers from a dangerous experiment.
The Cuomo Administration has issued proposed rules that would allow fracking in New York, even though their promised environmental and health reviews have not been completed. What is wrong with this process and the proposed fracking regulations? EVERYTHING!
Fracking may cause water contamination, air pollution, and other toxic health problems that could threaten our children and families. Yet Governor Cuomo’s Department of Environmental Conservation gave New Yorkers just 30 days to submit comments on its flawed fracking rules.
These proposed rules would allow fracking companies to keep their chemicals secret, denying us the right to know what toxics could be contaminating our air and water. The rules are inadequate to prevent possible releases of dangerous radiation, to protect drinking water, and don’t require proper disposal of contaminated waste water. They would dangerously allow fracking nearby homes and “places of assembly,” and since they do not specify rules for keeping fracking away from schools, playgrounds, or other areas where children spend time, fracking wells may be allowed even closer to these place where our children learn and play!
PLEASE ACT NOW! The form below includes specific concerns about the rules; in addition, at the bottom of the page (in the "optional" comment box provided) please add your personal comments in opposition to fracking – individualized comments will have the most impact. For example (use as many of these and add more of your own comments as you wish):
• I am concerned for my children, who deserve safe water and fresh air. Fracking threatens their future.
• The process for developing these proposed rules has been rushed, and there has been inadequate time for thorough public input.
• My family should not be guinea pigs in the fracking industry’s experiment. Please stop the rush to frack New York.
• Our state needs safer energy alternatives, not more oil and gas industry experiments on our health and the environment.
Together, we will stop the rush to frack New York! Deadline for comments is Thursday 1/10 at 3pm EST.
To the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
RE: High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing-Revised Proposed Regs, ID No. ENV-39-11-00020-RP
I am writing to oppose the revised proposed regulations on hydraulic fracturing (fracking), which are inadequate to protect our children and families from this risky experiment. No fracking should be allowed in New York until the technology’s health impacts are fully assessed and strict rules are developed to protect our right to know about chemicals used in fracking.
Specifically, I am concerned about the following provisions in the proposed regulations:
• Section 560.3: Companies should not be permitted to use dangerous chemicals, and must be required to disclose the chemicals they use to the public. We have a right to know when chemicals that pose risks to the environment and our water supply are used, but as written the draft allows companies to keep chemical secrets.
• Section 560.4: The draft would allow fracking wells within 500 feet of “an inhabited dwelling or place of assembly,” yet there is no science to demonstrate that this is a safe distance. In fact, studies have shown that toxic air pollutants from fracking can travel far beyond this distance. Moreover, since schools, playgrounds, and other sites where children spend time are not specifically named, it is unclear if fracking wells may be placed even closer to these areas, putting our children at greater risk.
• Section 560.4: The draft also calls for a 500 foot buffer between fracking wells and primary drinking water aquifers – again with no scientific basis to demonstrate that this is a safe distance. The draft also provides no protection for smaller aquifers. Underground faults can act as pathways for migration of harmful chemicals into the water supply, yet the draft is silent on this threat. Monitoring of fracking wells for chemical pollution is not required, meaning that New Yorkers will learn that water has been polluted only after we’ve suffered the consequences from drinking contaminated water.
• Section 560.7: The draft calls for testing for radiation but has no measures for preventing the release of dangerous radiation from our highly radioactive bedrock. There is no safe level of radiation exposure, yet radon levels from fracked gas are much higher than those from conventional gas, and can enter homes through cooking with gas.
• Section 560.7: The draft has no requirements for safe disposal of wastewater from fracking, which is a major potential environmental and health issue, but instead allows drillers to determine how they will dump their toxic wastewater.
Thank you for considering these comments. I look forward to your revisions to address these critical flaws that leave the health and environment of all New Yorkers at risk.
RE: High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing-Revised Proposed Regs, ID No. ENV-39-11-00020-RP
I am writing to oppose the revised proposed regulations on hydraulic fracturing (fracking), which are inadequate to protect our children and families from this risky experiment. No fracking should be allowed in New York until the technology’s health impacts are fully assessed and strict rules are developed to protect our right to know about chemicals used in fracking.
Specifically, I am concerned about the following provisions in the proposed regulations:
• Section 560.3: Companies should not be permitted to use dangerous chemicals, and must be required to disclose the chemicals they use to the public. We have a right to know when chemicals that pose risks to the environment and our water supply are used, but as written the draft allows companies to keep chemical secrets.
• Section 560.4: The draft would allow fracking wells within 500 feet of “an inhabited dwelling or place of assembly,” yet there is no science to demonstrate that this is a safe distance. In fact, studies have shown that toxic air pollutants from fracking can travel far beyond this distance. Moreover, since schools, playgrounds, and other sites where children spend time are not specifically named, it is unclear if fracking wells may be placed even closer to these areas, putting our children at greater risk.
• Section 560.4: The draft also calls for a 500 foot buffer between fracking wells and primary drinking water aquifers – again with no scientific basis to demonstrate that this is a safe distance. The draft also provides no protection for smaller aquifers. Underground faults can act as pathways for migration of harmful chemicals into the water supply, yet the draft is silent on this threat. Monitoring of fracking wells for chemical pollution is not required, meaning that New Yorkers will learn that water has been polluted only after we’ve suffered the consequences from drinking contaminated water.
• Section 560.7: The draft calls for testing for radiation but has no measures for preventing the release of dangerous radiation from our highly radioactive bedrock. There is no safe level of radiation exposure, yet radon levels from fracked gas are much higher than those from conventional gas, and can enter homes through cooking with gas.
• Section 560.7: The draft has no requirements for safe disposal of wastewater from fracking, which is a major potential environmental and health issue, but instead allows drillers to determine how they will dump their toxic wastewater.
Thank you for considering these comments. I look forward to your revisions to address these critical flaws that leave the health and environment of all New Yorkers at risk.