Please support the proposed prohibition on hydrofracking on State lands in New York State. It involves potentially 450 miles of the NCT. We need 7 state support.
Protect the NCT From Hydrofracking Devastation in NY State
Please support this important issue. We know the devastation to the trail in PA and we have ~450 miles in NY that could suffer the same fate. The drilling companies are lobbying very hard for DEC to reverse the DRAFT prohibition on drilling in State lands which comprise 55% of the NCT concurrent with the FLT in NY State.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC is analogous to DNR) has proposed prohibiting gas drilling using high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) and drilling-related infrastructure on public lands, including state parks, state forests and wildlife management areas. But the energy industry is lobbying hard to convince Governor Cuomo to reverse DEC’s decision and open our public lands for intensive gas exploitation. More than 1 million acres of publicly owned land from the Catskills to Lake Erie at risk.
If we want to protect the landscape and setting of the Finger Lakes Trail, the North Country Scenic Trail, the Onondaga Trail and other trails, we must speak out. DEC is accepting comments for the September 2011 Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement at a series of public hearings in November (see schedule below).
Written comments will be accepted through Monday, Dec. 12
Even a brief letter or web based comment will help http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/76838.html
(copy and paste address in your web browser)
REFER TO ADK TODAY FOR DETAILS http://www.adk.org/issues/SGEIS_Action_Alert.aspx
(copy and paste address in your web browser)
What Should You Say or Write to DEC?
•Support DEC’s prohibition of HVHF gas drilling and drilling infrastructure on all state parks, state forests and wildlife management areas. DO THIS IF NOTHING ELSE
•We need to persuade DEC and the Governor not to lease the oil and gas rights under state parks and DEC-managed public lands.
•Encourage DEC to prohibit gas pipeline networks, pipeline access roads or compressor stations on state lands. The DEC’s proposed regulations prohibiting gas drilling activities on public lands do not prohibit gas pipeline networks.
•In order to protect our aquifers and groundwater recharge areas, no HVHF horizontal drilling should be permitted within 2,000 feet of a primary or principal water supply aquifer, again measured from the end of a potential horizontal fracture.
•All HVHF drilling backflow or wastewater should be stored in a closed-loop steel tank system. Open HVHF lagoons or wastewater surface impoundments should be prohibited.
•To provide the maximum protection for groundwater supplies and aquifers, DEC regulations should mandate a triple layer of steel drill casings, with cementing between layers, that would extend below the maximum depth of the groundwater and/or aquifer layer in the location of the proposed HVHF well pad.
•DEC regulations must require the HVHF driller to disclose the chemical composition, total dissolved solids (TDS), salinity and radioactivity levels of all fracking fluid combinations as well as all flowback and produced waters.
•DEC regulations must require the drill permit applicant to submit a wastewater treatment plan that addresses all contaminants in the produced wastewater, including radioactivity, chlorides, total dissolved solids, heavy metals and aromatic hydrocarbons -- including benzene, toluene and xylene. The regulations should require that such wastewater be regulated and treated as hazardous waste under the State Pollutant Discharge Elimination (SPDES)..
2. Electronic submission using a web-based comment form available on DEC’s website (preferred method). The comment form is available at http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/76838.html
- Letters may be mailed or delivered to: Attn: dSGEIS Comments,
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-6510
Please include your name, address and affiliation. Paper submissions also will be accepted at the public hearings. Comments submitted by fax, email or telephone will not be accepted for the official record.
· Tips for submitting online comments:
•After you have selected what you are commenting on, it will ask you for your general information down the left hand side of the screen. Also in the upper right hand corner there is a box containing series of letters you have to fill in as well.
•On the next screen you will be asked to choose a category. If your comments do not fit into one category you can hit the cancel button located at the bottom of the screen. This will not “cancel” your comments.
•The next screen will say “your comments have been submitted” but there will be an option below to add an attachment where you can upload your comments from a word document.
•The DEC will still consider your comments even if you just attach a word document and do not select a category.
