Dr. Howard Zucker, M.D., J.D., the Acting Commissioner of Health for the State of New York, just said no to fracking in New York. The Department of Environmental Conservation will issue an order next year prohibiting fracking in New York. The order will be self executing. Governor Cuomo does not need to act.
Thanks Dr. Zucker! Thanks activists! Thanks Ommegang for saying you’d leave if New York allowed fracking.
He could have said it was to get away from VOCs to be released into the air if hydraulic fracturing is allowed in western New York. He could have said that, but he’d be wrong. He should have walked toward New York. While New York may soon be fracking, Canada is already fracking with the best of them. Sorry to hear that, Canada, but if New Yorkers act fast, we may be able to save our air and water.
I understand the airborne poisons released from gas drilling can travel as far as 250 miles. A bird flying west from Broome County, New York (one location where test drilling may take place), makes it most of the way to Boston before his cute little bird odometer hits 250. That bird would fly right over my nephews living in Delhi, New York (70 miles downwind from Broome), and then over Frida sunning herself in our back yard (140 miles downwind from Broome).
In April, the EPA passed rules aimed at limiting the release of contaminants from wells and processing and distribution facilities. I can’t tell if the rules are worth anything. I do see they contain an exemption for exploratory wells. I wonder if Cuomo’s fifty test wells fit into that exemption. I shouldn’t have to wonder. I should be confident that my federal and state government officials are safeguarding my health. I am not.
Until I read the fact sheet describing the rules, I didn’t know that gas drilling releases methane. Lots of methane. From the fact sheet:
Methane, the primary constituent of natural gas, is a potent greenhouse gas – more than 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide when emitted directly to the atmosphere. Oil and natural gas production and processing accounts for nearly 40 percent of all U.S. methane emissions, making the industry the nation’s single largest methane source.
I need a federal license to distill whisky in my home while wildcat gas drillers are allowed to punch holes in the ozone. I am frisked before I get on a plane while drillers are allowed to pump undisclosed poison into the ground. I am getting a little angrier every day.
Yesterday I wrote to Cuomo telling him I am leaving New York if he allows fracking. I’d have to move to the west coast to avoid the plumes from wells operating all over the country. Except for the difficulty of leaving family and friends, moving is easy for us. I’d be closer to my clients. Lacey can get work anywhere. Not everyone can so easily pull up stakes, but after a couple of years of drinking water from plastic cisterns and showering in gassy smelling water, they may see a dusty bicycle leaning against the garage wall, pump up its tires, swing a leg over and pedal away.
As I type the voice from my radio is saying Cuomo will allow fracking in New York so that when he runs for president he can say he solved the energy problem in New York and will do so for the whole country. I can’t get away from it. Apparently we are all insane. No wait. I know we are. The top search that gets people to my site? “Trucker porn.” From this. Sorry to disappoint, folks!
Randal Putnam Loves to Pedal 