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If you live in New York State and you haven't heard the buzz about potential drilling for natural gas, it's time to start paying attention. And to make your voice heard (be inspired by the guy in the picture, if you have to).
In late September, the Department of Environmental Conservation issued an environmental impact statement of natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing, which opponents say will destroy the environment and endanger the upstate watershed, part of which supplies New York City's reputed ultra-clean tap water.
The public comment period was supposed to end this month, but has been extended until December 31.
Which means you have plenty of time to speak up: let DEC know that you do not want the health effects of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to affect your community, that you are concerned about who will retain control over the land, and that you just aren't comfortable with the release of unknown chemicals into the environment.
The DEC review is a daunting 800 pages long, but read the agency's tips for understanding its contents and how to submit comments. Of course, to make your comments really count, be sure you are educated on the issue first. One point to be clear about, as DEC explains:
Hydraulic fracturing is not new. Nor is horizontal drilling. What is new is the combined use of these techniques to extract gas from deep shale layers such as the Marcellus and Utica formations in New York, and the extraordinary amounts of water and "flowback," with its attendant chemicals, that must be managed in the process.
That's perhaps the scariest part: the unprecedented application of techniques that are controversial in the first place, in a region where the water supply of millions of people could be endangered, as well as the health of the land for generations to come.
The first public hearing of the environmental review did not go well. That's a sign that there is solid support—and demand—for more precautionary environmental protection than is typical within the natural gas industry. There are more public hearings to come: attend if you can. If not, submit comments directly online, or email or snail-mail them in to DEC (addresses listed at the bottom of the page, if you click through).
Your voice is invited, now make it heard.
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