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A Public Service Newsletter 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.
The highly hazardous products used to fracture Marcellus shale are clearly a potential danger to water resources in New York State.
- 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.
- 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.
New York should proceed cautiously. Drilling should be incrementally permitted, starting with a small number of wells and increasing thereafter only after safety is proven. The necessary research, testing, and academic studies have not been conducted to establish that hydraulic fracturing is safe to the inhabitants of New York State, and to the rivers, lakes, and aquifers of the state.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.
On November 4, 2009, Chairman Steve Coffman announced that the Committee to Preserve the Finger Lakes has signed, without exception, a broad-based petition to ban natural gas drilling in New York State that uses hydraulic fracturing and to join with other signers seeking to protect the beautiful and diverse environments of New York State.
Members: Bob Davis (Editor of this public service newsletter), Steve Coffmann, Vaughn Baker, Peter Gamba, Melanie Steinberg, Jim Fitzgibbons, Jack Wilbert, Greg Marion, George Mathewson, Ray Copson, Anne Perry
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