The Committee to Preserve the Finger Lakes
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A Public Service of The Committee to Preserve the Finger Lakes


Our committee is committed to preserving the natural beauty and the purity of the water in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. Its scenic lakes and majestic landscape make the region worth preserving for future generations. We promote preservation by objectively identifying, informing and educating the general public, officials and administrators on environmental threats. 

One potential threat to the pristine environment of the Finger Lakes region is the drilling of deep wells to extract natural gas from the Marcellus Shale. Beginning soon, there will be deep wells drilled here using a process called "hydraulic fracturing." Because of the chemicals used in the process, water and environmental pollution has happened in other areas. It could happen here

The highly hazardous products used to fracture Marcellus shale are clearly a potential danger to water resources in New York State.

  1.  Contamination of the soil around a gas well can occur from accidental spills and leakage from the borehole itself, resulting in the toxic fluids seeping into water aquifers. Environmental cleanup can be a very difficult task. It's often uncertain as to whether the contamination is completely eliminated.
  2. Fluids recovered from the well, including the hazardous products and chemicals used for the fracturing and any produced formation brines, must be treated and disposed of safely. However, the effectiveness of standard wastewater treatments on these fluids is not well understood. In particular, salts and other dissolved solids in brines are not usually removed successfully by wastewater treatment, and reports of high salinity in some Appalachian rivers have been linked to the disposal of Marcellus Shale brines.

New York State should prohibit the use of highly hazardous substances in gas well drilling. Secondly, treatment facilities dedicated to the disposal of fracturing fluids should be in place in the State before any drilling is allowed.

Deep well drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus shale is in the State's economic interest. But, it must occur without harming the State's environmental and water resources. New York must ensure that people can count on clean, safe drinking water now and for generations to come. Drilling should be incrementally permitted only after safety is proven, starting with a small number of wells and increasing thereafter under strict regulation and supervision by the NYDEC.

Members of the Committee include: Peter Gamba (Chair), Steve Coffman (Vice Chair), Ed  Seus, Joe Hoff, Melanie Steinberg, Tony Lipani, Vaughn Baker, Llewellyn Lafford.

 


Our address is:

The Committee to Preserve the Finger Lakes
PO Box 505
Penn Yan, NY 14527-0505

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