Hundreds put focus on ‘fracking’

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – One by one, 200 people took the microphone Monday – 100 at each of the two four-hour sessions held at The Forum in Binghamton – to express their fears over and experiences with a controversial natural gas extraction method.

Speakers had two minutes each to address officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in a hearing on the agency’s hydraulic fracturing study.

One of the main concerns raised was the impact so called “fracking” might have on drinking water supplies. Hydraulic fracturing is a drilling technique used in the Marcellus Shale region in which millions of gallons of a mixture of water, chemicals and sand is blasted deep underground to break up shale and release the natural gas.

The EPA is in the midst of developing a research study on the issue that has gained attention across the country in the natural gas drilling boom. According to the agency, the $1.9 million, multiyear-study will examine the potential relationships between fracking and drinking water.

Instances across the country, including some in Northeastern Pennsylvania, have occurred in which drinking water has been tainted in the vicinity of gas wells. That the damage was caused by fracking, and not inadequate well casings, surface spills or other reasons, has not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt, according to gas drilling’s supporters.

Barbara Arrindell, a member of the Wayne County-based Damascus Citizens for Self Government and Friends, implored the EPA to do what its name implies it should do -- provide protection.

“The tons of chemicals do not magically disappear. We are the collateral damage. The EPA must live up to its name,” Arrindell said. She said the drilling process “is a nightmare for current and future generations.”

Adam Saslow, the facilitator for the sessions, made it clear from the start that although he is aware there are many facets to hydraulic fracturing that have some people concerned, the EPA study will not make “a decision on the merits of hydraulic fracturing.”

He said the study’s focus will be to examine the process’s impact on drinking water.

Dr. Robert Puls, the EPA’s point man on the study, said the study seeks to find what approaches are effective for protecting drinking water and what hydraulic fracturing scenarios might impact drinking water safety. The results of the study are expected to be finalized in 2012.

The hearings, which will conclude with two more sessions on Wednesday, have previously been held in Canonsburg, Pa., Denver, Colo., and Fort Worth, Texas. Like the greater Binghamton region, each of those areas has natural gas deposits. More than 1,600 people pre-registered to attend the Binghamton hearings, according to an EPA spokeswoman.

The events inside the historic Forum were mostly tame, though some speeches were impassioned and there were some contentious times when people went over their allotted 120 seconds at the podium. Some of the 500 gathered complained that time was up once the giant countdown clock on a screen hanging over the stage reached zero.

Outside, as law enforcement officers watched, those on both sides of the issue made it clear where they stand with T-shirts, placards and chants.

Opponents of fracking carried signs reading “Kids can’t drink gas” and “Protect our water. Stop fracking America.”

There was an ample number of those in support of the process as well, including potential workers clamoring for the thousands of jobs the Marcellus Shale drilling could provide at a time when the economy and jobs are a key issue. A steady chant of “Pass gas now” that would raise a chuckle if it was made elsewhere, drew fist pumps from some who walked by and boos from others.

Douglas Lee, of Livingston Manor, N.Y., said he believes fracking is safe and necessary and he accused rich people of spending thousands of dollars in a scare campaign to stop the gas companies from boosting the economies of rural New York and other areas, “so they can turn Upstate New York into their playgrounds.”

“Our communities are poor. Many of our farmers are on the verge of losing our farms … Let our farmers make a living off the land,” Lee said to a loud mix of cheers and hisses.

Mary Rodriguez, a Dallas Township resident who is a part of the Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition, was one of about eight members of that organization who made the trek up Interstate 81 on Monday.

Though she didn’t speak at the forum, afterward she said what she heard was a lot of misinformation.

She said too many people in New York State only see dollar signs and she hoped some speakers would “enlighten them” that there’s more to the drilling than money.

“They’re just talking about economics up here, not contamination,” Rodriguez said.

The EPA is considering how broadly to construct its study of fracking, ordered last year by Congress after the agency’s 2004 study that declared the technology safe was widely criticized as flawed.

He said the study “focused exclusively on coal bed methane deposits in the South and was in many ways misleading … and incomplete.”

“Fortunately now we have a new EPA, which understands things a lot more clearly,” said Hinchey, who represents an eight-county region in New York’s Southern Tier from the Hudson Valley to the Finger Lakes.

That study had enabled passage of 2005 energy legislation exempting fracking from federal regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act, Hinchey said.

A portion of U.S. Sen. Bob Casey’s statement entered into the record at a hearing in Canonsburg in July voiced his support of a new EPA study, too.

“Recent incidents in the state raise the question of whether the necessary steps have been taken to protect Pennsylvania families and communities against the detrimental side effects of drilling. ... Given the numerous reported cases of groundwater contamination potentially related to hydraulic fracturing, a robust analysis of the impact is warranted. We need to know to what our citizens are being exposed, and the risk that hydraulic fracturing poses to our water. Drinking water is a critical resource, and we cannot afford to take unnecessary risks with human and environmental health.”

Later that month, provisions proposed by Casey, D-Scranton, to require the disclosure of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing were included in The Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Company Accountability Act the Senate is considering.

Last week, the EPA asked nine major gas drilling companies to voluntarily disclose the chemicals used in fracking. The firms, calling their chemical formulas proprietary, have largely sought to avoid that disclosure.

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Marcellus Shale - Gas Wells

Impact on drinking water a big issue

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