By Jessica Mastronardi & Joanna Fantozzi

Brewer Cuts Ribbon on Hydroponic Farming Classroom

On Tuesday, February 12, Upper West Side Council Member Gale Brewer joined students at the Computer School on West 77th Street to cut the ribbon on a brand new hydroponic farming classroom. With the help of $35,000 of discretionary capital funding allocated by Brewer, the Computer School created the state-of-the-art classroom to enhance science learning and provide delicious produce.

A long-time supporter of hands-on science education and green initiatives, Council Member Brewer funded greenhouses at Manhattan School for Children and P.S. 199. Brewer was also instrumental in the creation and development of Urban Advantage, a program that collaborates with the Department of Education and the City’s museums, zoos and gardens to fully engage middle school students in the sciences both in and out of the classroom.

Broadway Scores for P.S. 84

Broadway stars are temporarily leaving their respective stages to gather for a good cause — to raise money for P.S. 84 The Lillian Weber School of Arts. Kerry Butler, Randuy Redd, Renee Elise Goldsbury, Erik Charlston, Mark Soskin and Joe Iconis and Family will be performing “Broadway Scores for P.S. 84 – A Celebration of Songs Featuring Kerry Butler and Friends” under the musical direction of Dan Elish. This event will be held on March 3rd at Robert H. Smith Auditorium at the New York History Society, at 170 Central Park West.

Ticket’s to the show range from $50 to $150 and include access to the 7 p.m. cocktail hour and 8 p.m. performance and live auction.

Use code “Broadway” to get a 20 percent discount on tickets at ps84cabaret.eventbrite.com. All of the proceeds will be going towards P.S. 84 and the PTA’s enrichment initiatives.

ADA Lawsuits vs. UWS Merchants

Merchant owners on the Upper West Side are learning just how much it costs to disobey the Americans with Disabilities Act.  According to Crain’s New York, the Florida-based attorney Ben-Zion Bradley Weitz is on the hunt for UWS storeowners with storefronts that do not meet ADA standards, and charging them tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees while plaintiffs on average make $500. Many storeowners claim that abiding by ADA regulations and the regulations of the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission is nearly impossible to do. The changes the ADA requires they make interfere with the preservation of these historic landmarks.

Affected  merchants are joining together create a defense against Weitz’s acts of alleged extortion. Among the list of supporters for these merchants include Barbra Adler, the executive director of the Columbus Avenue Business Improvement District and Peter Panken, a labor and employment attorney.

Upper West Side Community Cheers Fracking Delay

Environmental activists and anti-fracking New Yorkers cheered Governor Cuomo’s announcement that the issuance of the final Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, which would determine the fate of hydraulic fracturing in New York State, will be delayed. The announcement has been counted as a victory by opponents of the controversial drilling practice in the on-going debate over the health and safety impacts of hydro-fracking.

“It is my sincere hope that the Administration would heed the warnings of public health and environmental experts to stop this process in its entirety until a comprehensive and wholly independent health study can be completed,” said Upper West Side Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal in a statement.

Once the health review is completed within the next few weeks, and if it has addressed each of these concerns, a permit to begin the hydro-fracking process could be processed within 10 days.

 Local residents and elected officials applaud roadblock for hydraulic fracturing drilling in the state

Environmental activists and anti-fracking New Yorkers cheered Governor Andrew Cuomo’s announcement that the issuance of the final Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, which would determine the fate of hydraulic fracturing in New York State, will be delayed. The announcement has been counted as a victory by opponents of the controversial drilling practice in the on-going debate over the health and safety impacts of hydro-fracking.

New York State Department of Health Commissioner Nirav Shah said that more information is needed to complete the public health review before any final statement can be made. Without a public health review, Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens said that he cannot release this Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, which would outline the effects of fracking on the natural environment.

“The decision to permit high volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) is important, and involves complex questions about the impact of the process on public health,” said Commissioner Shah in a letter to Commissioner Martens. “The time to ensure the impacts on public health are properly considered before a state permits drilling.”

If the hydraulic fracturing processes were approved, the process would involve horizontal drilling for natural gases into the Marcellus Shale rock, and a technique known as “slick water fracturing,” which would utilize large amounts of water. This, said Commissioner Shah, is exactly what he would be analyzing: the fracking’s effect on water contamination, as well as air quality and surrounding community impact.

“Dr. Shah is wisely taking the time to come to a careful decision about what needs to happen to protect New York from the harmful effects of fracking,” said Dr. Kathleen Nolan, Catskill Mountainkeeper’s High Peaks Regional Director.

Hydro-fracking has remained a controversial issue in New York, and many local officials have denounced the process. An Upper West Side community forum on fracking was held last week by elected representatives including State Senator Adriano Espaillat and Council Member Gale Brewer.  Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal, who was also at the community forum and has repeatedly spoken out against fracking at the state level, is concerned about the impact on the local community.

“It is my sincere hope that the Administration would heed the warnings of public health and environmental experts to stop this process in its entirety until a comprehensive and wholly independent health study can be completed,” said Rosenthal in a statement.

This delay, however, is not a permanent setback for the drilling industry. Once the health review is completed within the next few weeks, and if it has addressed each of these concerns, a permit to begin the hydro-fracking process could be processed within 10 days.

By Gregory Solman

In Fracknation, Irish investigative journalist Phelim McAleer finds a combustible metaphor for the contrived controversy of hydraulic fracturing in the footage of the Sautner family hustlers of Pennsylvania.

McAleer couldn’t politely interview the couple without Craig threatening a lawsuit (apparently emboldened by the radical National Resources Defense Council), and Julie threatening to pull a pistol on McAleer on a public road, where she voluntarily stopped to shout at him. (It’s rich to watch her sheepishly press a gun permit against the inside of her car window, demonstrating the Defense Technique When Not Being in the Least Threatened.) So McAleer pulls a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain a taping of the Sautners, apoplectic upon hearing the Environmental Protection Agency—such a right-wing frat under Lisa Jackson—confirm the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s finding that their water tests safe and clean.

McAleer notes the irony that not having contaminated water would be considered good news to all but those looking for an Erin Brockovich ending to their woes, real or imagined, or in ideological lockstep with what is now a full-fledged anti-fracking movement, replete with its own agitprop such as Josh Fox’s polemic GasLand and Gus Van Sant’s desperately “relevant” fiction, Promised Land. For the greenshirts, only bad news is good news: Recall that the same eco-special interests were all for using natural gas when it was an empty-handed gesture, when they thought we were almost out. (Their next suggestion: Francium power—but only if actually bottled in France, in IWW-run shops.)

In Fracknation, McAleer is mostly after the would-be Michael Moore, Fox, in whose disputatious documentary the Sautners display their dubiously adulterated water and others light their taps—and a large part of the impressionable public—on fire. But that’s a well-known, ancient phenomenon having nothing to do with fracking, and everything to do with methane naturally seeping wherever it can, as surely a few of Fox’s newfound celebrity friends must know from living near the La Brea Tar Pits, where the streets spontaneously combust from time to time. (Clearly, if the greenshirt “gascists” could redevelop Los Angeles, there’d be nothing within miles of mid-Wilshire—well, except maybe environmentally sensitive Ed Begley-esque manses—an area that would be turned into a no-man’s-land preserve to hasten the return of the kangaroo rat.)

When McAleer catches up to Fox—he, too, in the Moore mode—and accuses him of recklessly associating fire-water with fracking (which has never once been proven to have contaminated groundwater, occurring thousands of feet beneath the water table), Fox says, “Yes, but it’s not relevant.” And from his perspective—which smacks of Hillary Clinton’s on Benghazi—it isn’t. Despite Fox’s pose as a friendly naïve explorer in GasLand, reinforced by a lazy narrative drawl suggesting Bill Murray’s muttering groundskeeper in Caddyshack, his project aims to stop shale gas production, by any means necessary.

The moratorium on leasing that GasLand inspired animates McAleer to work the other side of the documentary-cliché fence, matching Fox’s often sincere-sounding fracking alarmists with a Depression-era revival of plaintive, tearful farmers fearful of losing their land because their gas leases have been shut off amid already hard times. Besides them, McAleer finds plenty of residents in Dimock, Pa., who don’t appreciate GasLand’s suggestion that their homesteads are toxic wastelands, inhabited by greedy despoilers and easy marks for Matt Damon.

McAleer systematically eviscerates GasLand’s false implications and sloppy inferences (finally, not even distinguishing between oil and gas production, and instantly trotting out a Halliburton/Cheney conspiracy, the not-so-secret handshake of Club 9/11 Truth). McAleer interviews specialists who assure us that the mathematical detection of seismic activity does not constitute an earthquake (and that the greenshirts’ beloved geothermal energy is worse). He unveils collusion between biased government officials, liberal media, non-governmental organizations and their Hollywood waterboys. He embarrasses Fox, a Columbia University grad, for his woeful ignorance of physics, engineering and chemistry.

Fracknation then travels to Europe to suggest that new-school communism under Vlad Putin has a hidden hand behind the anti-fracking agenda, so that Russia can continue to use a gas monopoly in the Ukraine and Eastern Europe as a political cudgel, turning it on or off as it pleases, and charging little old ladies in Poland half their pensions for gas and electricity, bringing to mind Dr. Zhivago’s arrests for foraging firewood. (He might have contrasted their plight with the thousands of Californians driving natural-gas Honda Civics—the cleanest cars on the planet, including electrics—for an unsubsidized $1.36 a gallon, thanks to fracking, what reasonable people call a win-win.)
Fracknation’s timing is good, though it’s unlikely to crack already ossified myths or affect fracking’s prospects, when even the use of that vulgar-sounding nickname is as devious as cubic zirconia ads referring to the genuine article as “mined diamonds.” Fracking friends and foes—and the movies they love—have formed skirmish lines almost identical to those of the climate-change controversy.

So we’re going nowhere from here. But it’s heartening to see someone take on a few of the anecdotal, unscientific and politically motivated accusations against the practice, before they, too, become immune to counter evidence.

The frack list (neuropathy, fish kills, cancer, dead bunny rabbits, migraines, animal hair loss, neighborhoods erupting in flames) is already reminiscent of the hysterical global-warming compilations which currently run from “acne” to “yellow fever”—until “aardvark population decline” and “yam rust” are added by someone, anyone, somewhere. The same camps have enlisted the same recruits, including anti-capitalists out to control the economy by fiat, communist style; enrich themselves, like Qatar’s over-compensated useful idiot, Al Gore; or just feel morally superior to others and, in the sweetly juvenile manner of the Mars Attacks! teen hero, suggest, to a mariachi version of the national anthem, that “maybe, instead of houses, we could live in tepees, ’cause it’s better, in a lot of ways.”

Documentary ‘Fracknation’ debates ‘Gasland,’ ‘Promised Land’ and the greenshirts—and wins.

By Gregory Solman

While hydrofracking was not listed on the packed agenda for Upper West Side Community Board 7’s first meeting of the new year last week, the contentious issue did receive a fair amount of attention during the public session of the meeting. The general consensus in the room was opposition to any fracking in upstate New York, which Gov. Cuomo appears on the verge of approving.

New York State Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal, who represents District 67, stated that there should be “no rush” to approve fracking, citing the inadequacy of the Department of Environmental Conservation health and safety reports and the potential costs to the climate. Her firm stance on the issue was met with applause from concerned community members who attended the forum and board members alike. Several politicians and their spokesmen echoed this call for caution. The board has taken

New York State Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal

the position that fracking should not be done unless the safety of the water supply for 8 million New Yorkers can be assured, CB7 Chair Mark Diller said in a phone interview after the meeting.

Angela Fox, a concerned community member and head of an anti-fracking coalition called The Mothers Project, which emphasizes the danger to women and children who might be exposed to toxins, namely radon, in gas extracted by fracking. This danger exists whether or not New York State performs fracking itself, since the city pipes in fracked gas from other locales. “She painted the picture of a mother standing at the stove with a baby on her hip, cooking dinner on a gas stove using fracked gas and absorbing the toxins,” Diller said.

“Radon, a byproduct of fracking, is the second leading cause of lung cancer next to cigarettes,” Fox pointed out. “If we get Marcellus Shale gas from nearby, it doesn’t dissipate.” She is also, notably, the mother of Josh Fox, a prominent environmental activist who directed Gasland, a documentary that exposed the dangers of fracking.

It is questionable what CB7 can do to mitigate the damages imposed by fracking if Gov. Cuomo does decide to approve it in select areas upstate, but local legislators such as Rosenthal and newly sworn-in Sen. Brad Hoylman (who replaced Tom Duane) offered a few words on the issue. Both say they remain committed to continuing the legislative fight for their respective districts.

Having reached a consensus on fracking, the board got down to business on issues that proved thornier to reach agreement on, including some lengthy discussion on the Manhattan Core Parking Amendment, which affects off-street parking regulations in Manhattan Community Districts 1-8, such as how many spaces parking garages must set aside for monthly versus transient parkers. “Our concern,” said Diller, “is that we do not want to do anything that will encourage more driving to the Upper West Side.”

Additional reporting by Amy Zimmerman.

Artists Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon and Mark Ruffalo, alongside longtime experts in the field, held a press conference today on the Upper West Side on Aug. 29 to promote Artists Against Fracking, an activist project with the aim of raising awareness about the ill effects of hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking).

Hydrofracking is a process of extracting gas by blasting a pressurized mixture of water and chemicals underground to crack open rock formations. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is expected to make a decision this week on whether to allow hydrofracking in New York state.

Ono, Lennon and Ruffalo launched Artists Against Fracking with the help of nearly 200 other artists and experts, to warn New Yorkers about their important role in stopping Cuomo from approving hydrofracking in the state. Lennon said he believes the city’s elected officials are “smart and have good intentions,” but hydrofracking is not adequately understood by the public. Furthermore, Ruffalo pointed out, “The world is watching New York.”

The organization hopes people will recognize the negative environmental impact of hydrofracking, the overwhelming opposition in America and the “campaign of misinformation” being spread by gas companies. This campaign aims to convince people fracking is a clean alternative to coal, explained Lennon.

“Bloomberg said it can be regulated to be safe,” Lennon said, “but then why did Dick Cheney exempt fracking from the Clean Air Act? Fracking releases unpronounceable toxic chemicals and carcinogens.”

Cornell engineering professor Anthony Ingraffea, who has studied the industry for 25 years, said the primary concerns with hydrofracking are leaks that contaminate underground drinking water and the escape of methane into the atmosphere. Ingraffea said one in 20 wells invariably fails, producing leaks. “Methane emissions are a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide,” said Ingraffea. “It will exacerbate climate change. It’s a bad time and this is bad technology for it.”

“Science doesn’t have two sides, just one,” said Ono. “All we want is a place we can trust in terms of pureness for ourselves and our children.”

Ono said the hope is the public will visit their organization’s website, become more informed and send letters to Cuomo every day, to remind him that “we are not forgetting.”
“Cuomo is the gatekeeper right now,” Lennon said, explaining that while the decision currently faces New York, “nature does not abide by state lines.”

The group promotes renewable energy as an alternative to hydrofracking. As to the issue that any alternative to hydrofracking, however seemingly innocuous, would still leave a carbon footprint, Ingraffea said: “We’re realists. Nobody controls the price of the sun or wind, and we can harness those for a smaller carbon footprint.”

“You cannot lie about something forever,” said Ruffalo. “A sun spill is just a beautiful day.”

Sean Lennon & Yoko Ono. Photo by Aaron Adler.

By Alissa Fleck

Artists Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon and Mark Ruffalo, alongside longtime experts in the field, held a press conference today in Manhattan to promote “Artists Against Fracking,” an activist project with the aim of raising awareness about the ill effects of hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking).

Hydrofracking is a process of extracting gas by blasting a pressurized mixture of water and chemicals underground to crack open rock formations. Governor Cuomo is expected to make a decision this week on whether to allow hydrofracking in New York State.

Ono, Lennon and Ruffalo launched “Artists Against Fracking,” with the help of nearly 200 other artists and experts, to warn New Yorkers about their important role in stopping Cuomo from approving hydrofracking in the State. Lennon said he believes the City’s elected officials are “smart and have good intentions,” but hydrofracking is not adequately understood by the public. Furthermore, Ruffalo pointed out: “The world is watching New York.”

The organization hopes people will recognize the negative environmental impact of hydrofracking, the overwhelming opposition in America and the “campaign of misinformation” being spread by gas companies. This campaign aims to convince people fracking is a clean alternative to coal, explained Lennon.

“Bloomberg said it can be regulated to be safe,” said Lennon, “but then why did Dick Cheney exempt fracking from the Clean Air Act? Fracking releases unpronounceable toxic chemicals and carcinogens.”

Cornell Engineering Professor Anthony Ingraffea, who has studied the industry for 25 years, said the primary concerns with hydrofracking are leaks which contaminate underground drinking water, and methane bubbling to the surface of the earth. Ingraffea said one in 20 wells invariably fails, producing leaks. “Methane emissions are a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide,” said Ingraffea. “It will exacerbate climate change. It’s a bad time and this is bad technology for it.”

“Science doesn’t have two sides, just one,” said Ono. “All we want is a place we can trust in terms of pureness for ourselves and our children.”

Ono said the hope is the public will visit their organization’s website, become more informed and send letters to Cuomo everyday, to remind him “we are not forgetting.”

“Cuomo is the gatekeeper right now,” said Lennon, explaining, while the decision currently faces New York, “Nature does not abide by state lines.”

The group promotes renewable energy as an alternative to hydrofracking. As to the issue that any alternative to hydrofracking, however seemingly innocuous, would still leave a carbon footprint, Ingraffea said: “We’re realists. Nobody controls the price of the sun or wind and we can harness those for a smaller carbon footprint.”

“You cannot lie about something forever,” said Ruffalo. “A sun spill is just a beautiful day.”

UWS residents line up Wed. night to voice their concerns to Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. (Photo Courtesy of @scottmstringer)

At a packed town hall meeting on the Upper West Side last night, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer fielded questions from concerned residents of the West 90s and 100s. The community came out in full force, pressing Stringer, City Council Member Gale Brewer and a panel of officials representing various city agencies to address their complaints and fears about various neighborhood issues.

Between 100 and 150 residents attended the forum, and the line of people waiting to step up to the microphone to say their piece stretched to the back of the room for the entire two-hour meeting. Armed with literature and, sometimes, un-concealed anger, community members and self-identified local activists pressed their elected officials for answers and action.

Stringer, a contender in the Democratic primary for the 2013 mayoral race, addressed concerns ranging from construction to hydrofracking to rat infestation.

The most-discussed issue of the night was the proposed construction of a Jewish Home Lifecare center on West 97th Street. JHL, an organization that provides health care and support services for the elderly, seeks to build a new, 20-story high-rise nursing home next door to P.S. 163, an elementary school. Although the New York City Planning Commission approved the application, Community Board 7 and local activists have continued to fight against the project.

Avery Brandon, who lives near the 97th Street site and whose kindergarten-aged daughter will be attending P.S. 163 for the next several years, spoke out vehemently against the new building at the meeting.

“A huge construction project like this can have untold effects on the health of our children,” Brandon said. “With the noise levels, and the mental stress that this construction will cause, how will our children be able to learn?”

Brandon and various other residents also cited increased congestion, dust and debris and decreased access to the block for emergency responders as potential negative consequences of the project.

Later, on the issue of fracking, the focus of the conversation centered around the contentious Spectra Pipeline, a proposed natural gas pipeline intended to expand the delivery of natural gas to areas in New York and New Jersey. The project, which was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in May, is slated to run along the coast of New Jersey and cross the Hudson River into Manhattan, bringing gas from the Marcellus Shale — acquired through the process of hydraulic fracturing — to New York City homes on the West Side.

Residents at the meeting last night voiced opposition shared by many critics of the controversial method, citing in particular what they said are particularly high levels of radon and other radioactive material in Marcellus gas. They emphasized the dangers of using radon-infused gas in New York City kitchens, which tend to be small and often not well-ventilated, as well as the potential effects exposure to fracked gas could have on children in the neighborhood.

Attendees also complained of a growing rat infestation on Upper West Side streets — a problem which Council Member Brewer assured would be tackled next month in a block-by-block effort conducted by the Department of Health — and the New York Police Department’s ever-contentious Stop and Frisk policy, which NYPD representatives declined to discuss in detail last night.

Josh Fox

By Mayara Guimaraes

Josh Fox has been loudly proclaiming the dangers of hydrofracking with his words and films ever since a gas company sought to lease his family’s land in Pennsylvania several years ago. After he conducted some research into the controversial process, he declined the $100,000 offer and set out to educate others on what he had discovered. The result was his Academy Award-nominated documentary, Gasland.

Now at work on Gasland 2 and petitioning local governments to prohibit fracking, Fox spoke to Our Town about the latest developments in New York State and why he thinks Gov. Andrew Cuomo is about to make a catastrophic mistake.

Our Town: Do you think that by sharing hydrofracking regulations with the gas industry before they were released to the public, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) gave the industry an advantage?

Fox: I think that this shows the deep and very cozy relationship between the gas industry and the agency that is supposed to be regulating on behalf of the people. What is even more shocking is that they were answering questions about the regulations, back and forth with the gas industry, but they weren’t answering the people’s questions. We submitted a list of 25 very technical questions, very similar questions to the ones sent by the gas industry, and we received absolutely no response. This could become a moment where people will say the gas industry has bought out our democracy. Why is that the industry gets to write the rules?

How is the fracking debate here in New York different than in other states?
New York had the benefit of taking a looking at what happened in Colorado, Texas and Pennsylvania—they had the benefit of knowledge. In Pennsylvania, Gov. Rendell and Gov. Corbett rolled out the red carpet for the gas industry. The people did not know what fracking was, and as a result Pennsylvania is being trashed. It is a devastating situation. We have nightmare after nightmare in environmental disasters unfolding in Pennsylvania, and it is the same in Colorado, Wyoming and Texas. But New York had the benefit of looking at this and getting really well organized.

What are some things that the average New Yorker doesn’t know about fracking but should?
In general, we are used to turning the light switch on and off and not thinking where the energy comes from. That has to change. The fossil fuel industry started to run out of the easily obtainable oil, coal and gas. Now, a sane person would look at that and think, well, let’s start changing to renewable energy. That is not what the fossil fuel industry did. They decided to go to the extreme type of energy—extremely dangerous, extremely hard to get, involving extreme amounts of energy used to get the energy. What I am talking about is fracking, nonstop removal for coal or deepwater drilling on the Gulf of Mexico, which is unpredictable, as we all saw two years ago with the oil spill that they had. Right now, the clean water supply of New York City is on the hook.

A scene from Gasland

What do you think of the possibility that Cuomo will only allow fracking in a few counties that are in favor of the gas industry?
There is nothing in this proposal from Cuomo that says it will stop the industry from working all over the state. The truth is that this is just a way to open the door and pass regulation; once these regulations are passed, the gas industry is just going to say, ‘Well, there is no such a thing as regulations that only are valid in parts of the state.’ And they will have a point. There is something called unequal protection under the law. There is no way to protect some people and not protect others under the same law. We went to Gov. Cuomo and told him not to do this—not to experiment with poor counties that are less politically represented and are desperate because of economic problems.

The one thing that the governor has done right so far is to not move forward with this proposal. I think that he has shown healthy skepticism. This is going to be disastrous for his legacy. We know by looking at the gas industry documents that these wells are going to leak. We know that there is a statistical probability of blowouts, of contamination incidents.

What can you tell us about your upcoming documentary, Gasland 2?
The film is an investigation about the level of the relationship between the government and the gas industry. There is a level of communication and collaboration between the government and the industry that is outsizing the citizen right now. Right now we are seeing a different type of contamination caused by fracking; it is not the water or the air, it is the contamination of our democracy.

Hydrofracking site in Lancaster, Penn.

By Megan Bungeroth & Mayara Guimaraes

The debate over hydrofracking has been raging in New York for years, and it may be coming to a head this year as Gov. Andrew Cuomo contemplates allowing the controversial drilling technique in the state for the first time.

The state currently has a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, but the governor has recently indicated that he would be open to allowing the process in certain areas of the state near the border with Pennsylvania, where fracking is already underway.

Fracking is a process used to extract natural gas from shale rock. Large volumes of water, chemicals and sand or ceramic beads are pumped into rock at high pressures, fracturing it and releasing the gas deposits that can then be piped to the surface. It’s a process that has been in practice in the oil and gas mining industries for decades, but a surge in natural gas production in recent years has put the latest hydrofracking methods into the national spotlight, and many New Yorkers don’t like what they’re seeing.

“While I understand the economic arguments in favor, those arguments do not take into account the potential costs—both economic and environmental—associated with fracking,” said State Sen. Liz Krueger. She’s been a vocal opponent of fracking in the state, as have many of her Upper East Side constituents.

“The experience of other states with ground and surface water contamination and well blowouts, concerns about the contents of fracking fluids and the significant damage to existing infrastructure that could result from allowing fracking are simply too great,” she said.
Problems in other states—contaminated drinking water being the gravest among them—have made New Yorkers especially cautious about allowing the process at home. The potential benefits, however, are what have been swaying some upstate lawmakers and landowners to lobby to allow fracking. Aside from the royalties offered to landowners in economically depressed areas of the state where farming has fallen by the wayside, allowing fracking has the potential to create jobs and tax revenue.

There’s also a large U.S. supply of natural gas, which burns cleaner than coal or oil. “You have to look at what’s available and what’s viable,” said Alan Herbst, a principal with Utilis Advisory Group, a New York-based oil and gas industry consulting company that has worked with many clients on fracking for natural gas.

“This checks off a lot of boxes. It’s clean, it’s cheap, it’s domestically available. Is it the perfect solution? Maybe not. But it’s something that’s been developed and it will lead up toward energy independence,” he said.

Some argue that energy companies should be investing in alternative fuels instead of pushing for more fracking.

“We’ve known that we need clean, renewable energy for a sustainable planet for a long time. But now, fracking and other extreme extractions are putting us in a precarious position because they’re giving us more fossil fuels at a very high price to our precious water, climate, ecosystems and environment,” said Elizabeth Kelley, a volunteer with the local anti-fracking group United For Action.
“They are delaying renewable energy development and they are taking climate change to the brink.”

Herbst said that while the industry and the state should be looking at other forms of fuel as well as large-scale energy conservation, natural gas will continue to be a big part of the United State’s energy plan for the foreseeable future.

“You can’t be against everything,” Herbst said. “You just can’t produce the power you need with solar and wind. It’s too expensive and it’s not what you call baseload—you can’t rely on it 24 hours a day.”

Upper East Side Assembly Member Micah Kellner has acknowledged the potential benefits of accessing the state’s natural gas reserves but urged the state to hold off until a thorough review can be completed.

“You are not talking about drilling for oil in places that have been used to drilling,” Kellner said. “We are talking about drilling in places throughout New York State—some of the last untouched land in the Northeast—that have never been disturbed.”

The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is taking all of these factors into account as it conducts a Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) on hydrofracking—essentially a report on the potential impacts—and considers the 79,700 comments it has received from the public over two separate comment periods. The report should be completed by the end of the year.

The DEC recently came under scrutiny from several local lawmakers, including State Sens. Krueger and Tom Duane, for releasing some information about their study to the gas industry before making it public. Emily DeSantis, DEC’s spokeswoman, defended that decision.
“DEC has regularly and routinely met with environmental groups, industry, local government representatives and other stakeholders as it develops the final SGEIS for high-volume hydraulic fracturing,” DeSantis wrote in an email.

“Under the State Administrative Procedures Act, state agencies are required to assess the impacts of the regulatory action on the regulated entity. Agencies cannot gather this data without holding meetings and engaging in other forms of communication with the regulated community prior to proposing the regulation. Nothing in the regulations changed as a result,” she said.

Opponents of fracking argue that even strict regulations might not be enough to sufficiently protect the state’s water supply, and that the industry will find a way to get around the regulations regardless. Gas companies are seeking to drill the Marcellus Shale, the rock formation under which most of the region’s natural gas deposits sit. It also encompasses the watershed region in the Catskills from which New York gets most of its fresh water, and many argue that in order to protect the water supply, the state needs to maintain the outright moratorium on fracking that is currently in place.

Daniele Gerard, president of the Upper West Side’s Three Parks Independent Democrats, said there should be a hard line to protect the state’s water. “Water is a precious natural resource. We shouldn’t be injecting it with poisonous chemicals to obtain yet another fossil fuel. Energy companies should be using readily available technology to move wholesale to renewable energy and conservation measures,” she said.

The DEC won’t say what factors they are weighing in crafting their recommendations on hydrofracking, citing the ongoing scientific studies, but DeSantis did say that “if high-volume hydraulic fracturing moves forward in New York, it will do so with the strictest standards in the nation.”

That alone may be enough to keep the industry at bay, some argue, as other states open up for hydrofracking with more lax regulations.

“Given the intense interest and degree of concern expressed to date…it’s difficult to imagine that those restrictions would ever be relaxed regardless of pressure from industry,” said Telisport Putsavage, an environmental and energy law attorney with Sullivan & Worcester and former assistant counsel at the DEC.

“There are multiple shale formations and hydraulic fracturing opportunities in the United States, and I believe industry will ultimately gravitate toward the areas where resistance and regulation is less extensive, rather than continue to fight against what will most likely be the strictest regulatory regimen in the country.”