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March 23, 2009
Honorable Eric J. J. Massa
As some of your earliest supporters, we are asking you to take action to protect the Finger Lakes water and soil from Marcellus shale natural gas deep well drilling pollution. The Finger Lakes watershed is part of the Great Lakes watershed and is an essential source of fresh water now and will be of even greater importance in the future. We believe that alternative energy sources are important, but the preservation of our limited sources of fresh water is critical for the preservation of life itself.It is our belief that six large landowners in the Town of Seneca, Ontario County, have leased 3000 acres to natural gas deep well drilling operators. It is also our belief that thousands of further acres in Yates and Ontario counties have also been leased to natural gas deep well drilling operators.
If not stopped, it is our belief that the deep well drilling planned for 2009 will use tens of millions of gallons of fresh water from the Finger Lakes watershed and will produce tens of millions of gallons of liquid toxins both above ground and underground in the fresh water aquifer. We fear that our soils and water will become contaminated with the toxic waste and will become unusable for agriculture, recreation and human consumption. We also fear that if the natural gas deep well drilling operations proceed unchecked the value of our homes and property will be destroyed as a result of the poisoning of our land and water.
In light of the above, we ask that you request that the EPA Administrator immediately take the following actions:
1) Initiate a scientific review of the toxic liquid wastes that are byproducts of natural gas deep well drilling;
2) Halt all natural gas deep well drilling in Finger Lakes until the completion of the scientific review and any other environmental review deemed appropriate by the EPA;
3) Restrict the use of fresh water from the Finger Lakes watershed for deep well drilling;
4) Divulge to the public the chemical composition of all additives that the drilling process will employ;
5) Require full industrial pollution, zoning and other reviews of the natural gas deep well drilling process; and
6) Make public the names and locations of all leases to natural gas deep well drilling operators in the Finger Lakes Region.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Thomas H. Close, Chairman, Yates County Progressives
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