Quantcast
Powered by RebelMouse

ACTION: Call Gov. Cuomo and NY's DEC, Say No to New Fracking Regulations

Stefanie Spear
Nov. 30, 2012 09:15AM EST Energy

Riverkeeper

Fracking in Dimock, Pennsylvania. Photo courtesy Giles Ashford

This week, under Governor Cuomo’s direction, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) filed a new set of fracking regulations with the Secretary of State. But the DEC does not plan to make its new regulations available to the public until Dec. 12 for a public comment period that will only last until Jan. 11. DEC is required to finalize these new regulations by Feb. 27.

The DEC’s action wholly undercuts the governor’s promise to let the science of the Department of Health’s (DOH) review of fracking’s health impacts and DEC’s yet-to-be-completed environmental impact statement guide his decisions on fracking. Neither study will be completed before the public comment on the revised regulations closes. This is a fatal misstep for New Yorkers.

The consequence of filing this revised set of fracking regulations now will be to suppress public participation in the rulemaking process, given that the minimum 30-day comment period that DEC is providing will occur over the holidays.

But the DEC has a better option: it could and should wait for the health and environmental reviews to be completed. Then a decision on whether to move forward with revised regulations could be based on those reviews.

The governor needs to hear from you. Tell the governor that he is making the wrong choice for New Yorkers and that we expect him to keep his promise to allow the science to determine whether New York moves forward with fracking. This holiday season should not be a sleigh full of goodies for the gas and oil industry at the expense of millions of New Yorkers.

You can make a difference by contacting the governor’s office, as well as DEC.

  • Ask the Governor to live up to his promise to let science and the facts guide his decision on whether to allow fracking in New York and wait for the health and environmental reviews to be complete and made public before revised fracking regulations are proposed and finalized.

  • Call for the DEC and the Governor to withdraw the fracking regulations that they have just filed without being informed by their on-going environmental and health reviews.

Call the Office of the Secretary to the Governor at 518-474-4246.

Call the DEC’s Office of Communications at 518-402-8000.

Watch the Campbell Public Affairs Institute's fracking debate tonight at 7 p.m. live on EcoWatch.org. The proposition to be argued is:  “This Assembly Believes Hydrofracking Does More Harm Than Good.” Speaking in favor of the proposition are Paul Gallay, president of Hudson Riverkeeper, and Robert Howarth, the David R. Atkinson professor of Ecology and Environmental Biology at Cornell University. Speaking against the proposition are Edward Hinchey, professional geologist and independent consultant, and Tim Whitesell, supervisor, Town of Binghamton, and president of New York Association of Towns.

Visit EcoWatch’s FRACKING page for more related news on this topic.

 

energy fracking

EcoWatch Daily Newsletter

eco-friendly

Green Your College Dorm Room

Popular
Natural Resources Defense Council

By Emily Deanne

Shower shoes? Check. Extra-long sheets? Yep. Energy efficiency checklist? No worries — we've got you covered there. If you're one of the nation's 12.1 million full-time undergraduate college students, you no doubt have a lot to keep in mind as you head off to school. If you're reading this, climate change is probably one of them, and with one-third of students choosing to live on campus, dorm life can have a big impact on the health of our planet. In fact, the annual energy use of one typical dormitory room can generate as much greenhouse gas pollution as the tailpipe emissions of a car driven more than 156,000 miles.

Read More Show Less
sustainability eco-friendly zero waste carbon footprint carbon emissions
biodiversity

We Ignore Thousands of Threatened Plant Species at Our Own Peril

Popular
Kokia drynarioides, commonly known as Hawaiian tree cotton, is a critically endangered species of flowering plant that is endemic to the Big Island of Hawaii. David Eickhoff / Wikipedia

By Lorraine Chow

Kokia drynarioides is a small but significant flowering tree endemic to Hawaii's dry forests. Native Hawaiians used its large, scarlet flowers to make lei. Its sap was used as dye for ropes and nets. Its bark was used medicinally to treat thrush.

Read More Show Less
climate change biodiversity endangered species extinction wildlife species extinction forests hawaii
Sponsored
public health

Clean Energy Produces Billions in Health Benefits, Study Finds

Renewable Energy
Frederick Bass / Getty Images

States that invest heavily in renewable energy will generate billions of dollars in health benefits in the next decade instead of spending billions to take care of people getting sick from air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels, according to a new study from MIT and reported on by The Verge.

Read More Show Less
public health renewable energy health air pollution fossil fuels

Water Found in Hawaiian Volcano Could Lead to Eruptions

Popular
Aerial view of lava flows from the eruption of volcano Kilauea on Hawaii, May 2018. Frizi / iStock / Getty Images

Hawaii's Kilauea volcano could be gearing up for an eruption after a pond of water was discovered inside its summit crater for the first time in recorded history, according to the AP.

Read More Show Less
hawaii science volcanos
regenerative agriculture

For a Sustainable Climate and Food System, Regenerative Agriculture Is the Key

Insights + Opinion
A couple works in their organic garden. kupicoo / E+ / Getty Images

By Kristin Ohlson

From where I stand inside the South Dakota cornfield I was visiting with entomologist and former USDA scientist Jonathan Lundgren, all the human-inflicted traumas to Earth seem far away. It isn't just that the corn is as high as an elephant's eye — are people singing that song again? — but that the field burgeons and buzzes and chirps with all sorts of other life, too.

Read More Show Less
regenerative agriculture soil pesticides climate change food science conservation 2020 election
Sponsored
greenland

Trump Proposes Buying Greenland

Politics
A competitor in action during the Drambuie World Ice Golf Championships in Uummannaq, Greenland on April 9, 2001. Michael Steele / Allsport / Getty Images

Greenland is open for business, but it's not for sale, Greenland's foreign minister Ane Lone Bagger told Reuters after hearing that President Donald Trump asked his advisers about the feasibility of buying the world's largest island.

Read More Show Less
greenland donald trump denmark alaska
climate crisis

July 2019 Was the Hottest Month Ever Recorded, NOAA Confirms

Climate
AFP / Getty Images / S. Platt

Humanity faced its hottest month in at least 140 years in July, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said on Thursday. The finding confirms similar analysis provided by its EU counterparts.

Read More Show Less
heat waves extreme weather noaa climate change climate crisis
deforestation

Indonesia Forest-Clearing Ban Criticized as 'Government Propaganda’

Politics
Newly established oil palm plantation in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Rhett A. Butler / Mongabay

By Hans Nicholas Jong

Indonesia's president has made permanent a temporary moratorium on forest-clearing permits for plantations and logging.

It's a policy the government says has proven effective in curtailing deforestation, but whose apparent gains have been criticized by environmental activists as mere "propaganda."

Read More Show Less
deforestation forests indonesia wildfires palm oil conservation