NYC, the Hudson, and Fracking

When I first began learning about the dangers of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, I wondered how such a method could be allowed to occur. I then learned that many EPA regulators were actually former energy industry employees and lobbyists, which didn't make me feel any better. 

When Congress considered whether to regulate more closely the handling of wastes from oil and gas drilling in the 1980s, it turned to the Environmental Protection Agency to research the matter. E.P.A. researchers concluded that some of the drillers’ waste was hazardous and should be tightly controlled.

“It was like the science didn’t matter,” Carla Greathouse, the author of the study, said in a recent interview. “The industry was going to get what it wanted, and we were not supposed to stand in the way.” 

For example, the agency had planned to call last year for a moratorium on the gas-drilling technique known as hydrofracking in the New York City watershed, according to internal documents, but the advice was removed from the publicly released letter sent to New York. 

E.P.A. Struggles to Regulate Natural Gas Industry - NYTimes.com

From there, I began to learn about the regions around the country that fracking is taking off. One of them is the upper Hudson river valley, which is where the New York City metro gets most of it's water. Environmental groups have been successful thus far in holding back fracking efforts in this region, but I think that is only a matter of time before they break through. My worry was that if the region from which the NYC metro gets it's water supply from were to be contaminated to a significant extent by the energy industry, there would be no way to provide enough clean water for a population the size of what currently exists. 

Here is a bit of further reading:

Like Pennsylvania, New York sits atop the Marcellus Shale deposit. But unlike Pennsylvania – which has served as a poster child for gas development gone wrong – New York has taken a more cautious route than its next-door neighbor. After widespread public pressure from people worried that fracking could contaminate drinking water sources for millions of residents both upstate and in New York City, horizontal drilling for shale gas has effectively been halted until the State finishes a comprehensive environmental impact review. But the state still has not promised to update regulations that currently do not provide meaningful protections against the risks of fracking.

New York and Fracking | Earthjustice

Since July 2008 Riverkeeper has tracked the prospect of industrial gas drilling in New York State. While gas drilling in New York is not new, what is new is the magnitude, scope, and location of the proposed drilling method of high-volume hydraulic fracturing or “fracking”. Indeed, industrial gas drilling throughout the Marcellus Shale and other shale reserves in New York has the potential to impact the environment and communities dramatically.

This is one reason why Governor Paterson ordered New York State to update an outdated environmental review of gas drilling impacts.

The entire West-of-Hudson portion of the New York City Watershed (supplying 90% of drinking water to over half the state’s population) sits on top of part of the Marcellus Shale, a large mineral reserve deposit deep beneath the earth’s surface. Oil and gas companies have known about this shale reserve for decades, but the technology to extract natural gas from it has become available only recently. The Marcellus Shale spans across at least five states. To extract natural gas from the mineral reserve, oil companies plan to use a process called “hydraulic fracturing.”

Gas Fracking in New York State | Riverkeeper