Public Gets More Time to Comment on New York’s Gas Drilling Plans

by Sabrina Shankman, ProPublica

Responding to calls from politicians, environmentalists and concerned residents, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation announced Wednesday that it has extended the public comment period for an environmental review of natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale.

The comment period, which began Sept. 30 with the release of the draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, now extends through Dec. 31. It was previously slated to end Nov. 30. Since the release of the technical, 800-plus page document, there have been complaints that the original 60-day comment period was insufficient for people to read and understand its findings.

"This is the biggest environmental issue of the decade in New York," Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said in a statement. "It’s good to see that the public’s demand for more time has been heard."

The DEC has also moved up the start time for the second public hearing on the environmental review, which will be held Nov. 10 at Stuyvesant High School in New York City. Doors for the hearing will now open at 5:30 p.m. for individual questions and speaker sign-up. The DEC staff will also be on hand to answer questions about the draft. The public comment period will begin at 6:30 p.m. (More info on the public hearings here.)

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New York Drilling Study a Step Forward

by Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica

New York's recently released review of the environmental risks (PDF) posed by natural gas production in the Marcellus Shale offers the clearest picture yet of the chemicals used in the drilling process called hydraulic fracturing.

The document makes public the names of 260 chemicals, more than eight times as many as Pennsylvania state regulators have compiled. The list is the most complete released by any state or federal agency and could help answer concerns about hydraulic fracturing in Congress and in states where gas drilling has increased in recent years.

The review also takes another dramatic step by proposing that in certain situations companies that drill in New York be required to report the concentrations of the chemicals they use to state regulators, thereby creating a suite of information that environmental scientists say is essential to investigating water pollution from drilling. New York would be the first state to make such a demand.

The industry has been reluctant to release information about the chemicals it uses, because it considers them a proprietary trade secret. While New York has made the names of the chemicals public, it seems likely that the data about their concentration will be shared only with state officials.

The 800-page environmental impact assessment also proposes a slew of safeguards for well construction, waste disposal and water protection. If those rules are finalized after the ongoing public review period, New York's environmental protections for gas drilling would be among the strongest in the nation.

"In a number of areas these regulations are more stringent than in other states," said Kate Sinding, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. "As commendable as that is, and wanting to give the department credit where credit is due, the bar set in most other states is so abysmally low, it still begs the question of whether stronger is strong enough."
Environmental scientists have long sought complete information about the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, saying they need it to thoroughly investigate water pollution.

Contamination can occur when the chemicals are pumped underground, held in waste pits or trucked to water treatment plants before being discharged back into rivers and drinking water supplies.

Colorado passed regulations last year requiring companies to disclose the names of chemicals, but they apply only to chemicals held in 50-gallons drums or larger. Now the industry is suing Colorado to repeal the group of regulations that includes that clause. In Pennsylvania, environment officials told ProPublica that their list of chemical products used for drilling there was complete, but it names just 39 products and 31 unique chemicals. Congress has been debating a bill to require disclosure, but the industry is fighting the legislation with millions of dollars in lobbying efforts.

New York obtained the names of the chemicals by surveying drilling companies, their contractors and the manufacturers of the chemicals. The Department of Environmental Conservation identified 152 trademarked products and obtained the complete list of their ingredients; it gathered a partial list of ingredients for an additional 45 products.

The review, which was released last month, leaves some environmental concerns unanswered. It offers few specific measures to protect New York City's watershed -- the unfiltered source of drinking water for nearly half the state's population. It says that wastewater will be treated by facilities in New York and Pennsylvania, but does not confirm whether those plants have the capacity to receive Marcellus Shale wastewater or the technology to make that water safe.

Critics also complain it does little to describe how several thousand new wells would cumulatively affect air and water quality, leaving the analysis to a per-well basis.

"The DEC's shocking refusal to assess cumulative impacts undermines the validity of the entire study and if implemented will lead to devastating, unanticipated outcomes," said Roger Downs, a conservation associate at the Sierra Club's Atlantic Chapter, which has called for a ban on drilling in New York despite the Sierra Club's general support for gas development in the United States.

The review does, however, deal directly with some of most critical problems that have led to contamination in other drilling states.

It suggests strict limits on the kind of open waste pits that have led to hundreds of cases of water contamination in other states; guarantees additional scientific review before drilling can happen near water supplies; and requires government inspectors to be more regularly involved at several stages of the drilling and fracturing processes. An environmental review, sometimes including public hearings, would be required each time a gas well is proposed within 150 feet of a private water well, stream or pond or within 300 feet of a reservoir. An additional environmental review would also be required before gas wells could be hydraulically fractured within 1,000 feet of water supply infrastructure, or within 2,000 feet of the surface. Private water wells within 1,000 feet of a gas well would be tested before drilling begins, to create a baseline for measuring any future pollution.

The review recommends requiring that chemical-laden wastewater from hydraulic fracturing be enclosed in steel tanks rather than pits at well sites, a practice that has been proven to reduce the risk of spills and prevent evaporation of chemicals into the air. Some waste could still be kept in open pits, but new rules would require that those pits be emptied after seven days, and that state inspectors check the pits and their liners before they can be used again.

The review also suggests strengthening structural requirements to prevent leaks from inside gas well pipes, and establishing an explicit chain of custody record to make sure drilling wastewater is delivered to treatment facilities that are capable of accepting it.

Yancey Roy, a spokesman for the DEC, declined to answer questions about the document.

Instead he cited passages in the environmental review. New York's industry group, the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York State, did not return calls for comment. Two prominent new natural gas industry associations -- America's Natural Gas Alliance and Energy In Depth -- also declined to comment on New York's rulemaking process.

The draft review, called the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, updates the state's 1992 drilling study. It was ordered by Gov. David Paterson last summer after an investigation by ProPublica found that the state was not familiar with the chemical makeup of fracturing fluids and was unprepared to manage a boom of modern drilling in the Marcellus Shale.

The state has allowed for a 60-day comment period before the recommendations will be finalized and is holding four hearings across New York beginning later this month. Several state, city and federal lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., have said the comment period is too short and called for an extension from the Nov. 30 deadline. Comments can be submitted online or sent by e-mail.

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Gas Drilling Vs. Drinking Water: New York City Consultant’s Report Sets Stage for Fight With Albany

by Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica

A preliminary report from a consultant hired by New York City warns that "nearly every activity" associated with natural gas drilling could potentially harm the city’s drinking water supply and that while the risk can be reduced with strict regulations, "the likelihood of water quality impairment … cannot be eliminated."

That assessment contrasts sharply with the picture presented by an environmental review released by state officials last week. Aside from clauses that ban some waste pits and promise additional consideration for drilling within 1,000 feet of the city’s reservoirs and water infrastructure in upstate New York, the environmental review does little to respond to New York City’s long-standing concerns that the watershed deserves special environmental consideration and instead paves the way for drilling to proceed throughout the watershed.

The issue appears to be emerging as a point of controversy in New York City’s mayoral election.
City comptroller and mayoral candidate William Thompson criticized the state’s environmental review in a news release and said Mayor Michael Bloomberg should be more outspoken. "I am also concerned that the City and the Water Board have been extremely lax in responding to this threat," he said.

Marc LaVorgna, a spokesman for Bloomberg’s office, said the mayor will withhold judgment until he sees the final version of the report the city commissioned from Hazen and Sawyer, a New York City-based environmental engineering firm. The full report isn’t expected to be delivered until December, after the public comment period for the state environmental review has ended.

LaVorgna emphasized that the Bloomberg administration has invested heavily in the city’s water system and would not rule out a protracted fight to protect it.

"This is not a fringe issue for this administration," LaVorgna said. "This is a mayor that adamantly orders tap water every night he dines out."

In one of his few statements on the subject, Bloomberg, who has generally supported the idea of energy development, told WNYC radio Thursday that "if this has the danger of polluting, we will fight it."

The clashing reports seem poised to reignite long-standing tensions between upstate New York and New York City, which depends almost entirely on water delivered from rural, upstate areas.

"The stakes are very high based on the conclusions of this report," Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said in an interview with ProPublica. The report, he said, "suggests that city elected officials have a role to play here and a responsibility to step up and say, ‘What does frack drilling mean to New York City residents?’"

Last week Stringer announced he was launching a Kill the Drill campaign.

New York is one of four major cities in the United States with a special permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allowing its drinking water to go unfiltered. That pristine water comes from a network of upstate reservoirs and rivers spread across 1,600 square miles in five upstate counties. Those reservoirs – which all lie west of the Hudson River – supply 90 percent of the drinking water for 9 million downstate residents, nearly half the state’s population. If the EPA were to rescind the city’s special permit, New York City would have to build a treatment facility that could cost between $10 billion and $30 billion, according to various estimates.

Hazen and Sawyer’s early findings were summarized at a city meeting last week and posted on the city Department of Environmental Protection’s Web site Tuesday evening, after repeated requests for the document by ProPublica over the past several days.

The report, and an accompanying summary PowerPoint presentation, lay out several areas of concern. The consultants found that drilling "introduces hazardous chemicals into the watershed" and that "the well bore, which acts as a conduit between geologic formations, can allow previously isolated contaminants to flow into shallow groundwater or surface water."

The research also warned of "enormous volumes" of wastewater and said there are no treatment plants in the region designed to treat these wastes. It said the disturbance from hydraulic fracturing could cause seismic shifts or otherwise damage the tunnels or aqueducts that bring the water to the city. Hydraulic fracturing shoots millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals underground with such force that it breaks rock and releases pockets of gas.

So far, New York City’s top officials have preferred a behind-the-scenes approach as the public debate over the state’s natural gas drilling policy unfurls in Albany. City DEP officials have protested to the state Department of Environmental Conservation in private letters, but have said little publicly.

In a letter obtained by ProPublica in July 2008, then New York City DEP commissioner Emily Lloyd asked the DEC commissioner to disclose the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing and to consider a partial ban on drilling near the reservoirs that supply New York City’s water.

Shortly afterward, and following an investigation by ProPublica, Gov. David Paterson ordered the environmental review that was released Sept. 30. Called the Draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, it supplements gas and oil drilling rules established in 1992.

New York City officials have since sent several additional letters to the state DEC voicing their ongoing concerns.

A spokesman for the state DEC did not return repeated calls for comment.

The state supplemental draft report discloses many of the drilling chemicals, as Lloyd had requested, and it also strengthens several other environmental protections. But it did not recommend a full or partial ban on drilling in the watershed.

The supplementary impact statement is now subject to a 60-day public comment period, after which final guidelines will be issued. But Stringer and others are pressing the state for a 30-day extension, which would allow the findings from the Hazen and Sawyer report to be included.

Read the "Rapid Impact Assessment Report" by consulting firm Hazen and Sawyer.

Read our full coverage of natural gas drilling.

ProPublica reporters Joaquin Sapien and Saprina Shankman contributed to this story.

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Raw Video: Tornado Hits Western New York

The National Weather Service says a tornado with wind speeds as high as 110 mph touched down in Corfu, about 30 miles east of Buffalo Saturday afternoon.

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Sea Level Rise Due to Global Warming Poses Threat to NYC

Global warming is expected to cause the sea level along the northeastern U.S. coast to rise almost twice as fast as global sea levels during this century, putting New York City at greater risk for damage from hurricanes and winter storm surge, according to a new study led by a Florida State University researcher.

Jianjun Yin, a climate modeler at the Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS) at Florida State, said there is a better than 90 percent chance that the sea level rise along this heavily populated coast will exceed the mean global sea level rise by the year 2100. The rising waters in this region -- perhaps by as much as 18 inches or more -- can be attributed to thermal expansion and the slowing of the North Atlantic Ocean circulation because of warmer ocean surface temperatures.

Yin and colleagues Michael Schlesinger of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Ronald Stouffer of Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at Princeton University are the first to reach that conclusion after analyzing data from 10 state-of-the-art climate models, which have been used for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report. Yin's study, "Model Projections of Rapid Sea Level Rise on the Northeast Coast of the United States," will be published online March 15 in the journal Nature Geoscience.

"The northeast coast of the United States is among the most vulnerable regions to future changes in sea level and ocean circulation, especially when considering its population density and the potential socioeconomic consequences of such changes," Yin says. "The most populous states and cities of the United States and centers of economy, politics, culture and education are located along that coast."

The researchers found that the rapid sea-level rise occurred in all climate models whether they depicted low, medium or high rates of greenhouse-gas emissions. In a
medium greenhouse-gas emission scenario, the New York City coastal area would see an additional rise of about 8.3 inches above the mean sea level rise that is expected around the globe because of human-induced climate change.

Thermal expansion and the melting of land ice, such as the Greenland ice sheet, are expected to cause the global sea-level rise. The researchers projected the global sea-level rise of 10.2 inches based on thermal expansion alone. The contribution from the land ice melting was not assessed in this study due to uncertainty.

Considering that much of the metropolitan region of New York City is less than 16 feet above the mean sea level, with some parts of lower Manhattan only about 5 feet above the mean sea level, a rise of 8.3 inches in addition to the global mean rise would pose a threat to this region, especially if a hurricane or winter storm surge occurs, Yin says.

Potential flooding is just one example of coastal hazards associated with sea-level rise, Yin said, but there are other concerns as well. The submersion of low-lying land, erosion of beaches, conversion of wetlands to open water and increase in the salinity of estuaries all can affect ecosystems and damage existing coastal development.

Although low-lying Florida and Western Europe are often considered the most vulnerable to sea level changes, the northeast U.S. coast is particularly vulnerable because the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is susceptible to global warming. The AMOC is the giant circulation in the Atlantic with warm and salty seawater flowing northward in the upper ocean and cold seawater flowing southward at depth. Global warming could cause an ocean surface warming and freshening in the high-latitude North Atlantic, preventing the sinking of the surface water, which would slow the AMOC.

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Benefit To Promote Farming in New York City

For the first time, Farm Aid 2007: A HOMEGROWN Festival, founded by musicians Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp, will beheld on New York City's Randalls Island on September 9. The annual benefitconcert raises funds to support family and urban farming and to promote the purchase of food from these farms throughout the five boroughs. New YorkCity supports local farmers through its Green market program, which serves more than 250,000 residents weekly during its peak season.

Tickets for Farm Aid 2007 go on sale Saturday, June 16, at 10am EDT at all Ticketmaster outlets. Tickets can also be purchased at ticketmaster.comor by calling 212-307-7171, 631-888-9000 or 203-624-0033.

For moreinformation about Farm Aid 2007: A HOMEGROWN Festival, visit farmaid.org. Farm Aid 2007: A HOMEGROWN Festival will celebrate music, food and hands- on activities with family farmers and urban growers. For the first time, concert concessions will feature all fresh, local, organic and family-farmed food.

"New York City is committed to sustainable family farming in all five boroughs, particularly through our Green market program, which supportsapproximately 180 local farmers at 47 locations throughout the city," says George Fertitta, CEO NYC & Company, the tourism marketing organization for the City of New York. "Farm Aid 2007 will show visitors a greener side of New York City, and we are honored to host this year's concert on Randalls Island."

Farm Aid's mission is to build a vibrant, family-farm-centered system of agriculture in America. Farm Aid artists and board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews host the annual concert to raise funds to support the organization's work with family farmers and to inspire people to choose family-farmed food.

Since 1985, Farm Aid has raised more than $30 million to support programs that help farmers thrive, expand the reach of the Good Food Movement, take action to change the current system of industrial agriculture and promote food from family farms.


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Trust Simmons, Jannace & Stagg

When attorneys are involved, seldom do you really want to prove a point. You want to resolve a situation as easily and most cost-effectively as possible.

That's what you get with the lawyers at Simmons Jannace & Stagg.

They have successfully tried many cases for our clients, but have also been successful employing alternative dispute resolution techniques and negotiations on behalf of their clients. Clients turn to them because Simmons, Jannace & Stagg listens to their needs and always put their interests first.

In addition to litigation, the firm acts as counsel to business clients and real estate developers in matters involving financing transactions, real estate and general commercial matters. In this area, they have structured a variety of loans and other financing transactions, including real estate and construction loans, asset-based loans, asset securitizations, stock purchase sale and leaseback transactions.

Simmons, Jannace & Stagg practices in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey and is available to more than Fortune 500 clients -- small companies, municipalities and individuals hire the firm for their "outside the box" thinking.

The firm says it's been representing some clients since the firm was established a decade ago as a litigation firm focusing on commercial and general liability litigation.

Today, Simmons, Jannace & Stagg is a highly respected full service law firm practicing throughout the tri-state area and says it has been awarded the highest peer review rating by Martindale-Hubbell, which rates legal ability and ethical standards.

This was a sponsored post.


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Study Finds Banks Less Available to Working Class, Minority Communities

A new report by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition finds that most of the largest metropolitan areas of the United States have markedly lower numbers of bank branches in working class and minority communities than in the upper class and white neighborhoods.

Are Banks on the Map? An Analysis of Bank Branch Location in Working Class Neighborhoods draws the clear connection that without access to basic banking services, modest income families spend more of their limited resources for simple financial transactions.

"Despite the purchasing power that is clearly available in urban areas, these emerging markets have been left out of the mainstream bank ing industry," says John Taylor, NCRC president and CEO. "Without banks in the neighborhood, un-banked families are paying exorbitant fees for services that are practically free for the rest of us. How can anyone climb out of poverty if they have to pay $35 to a check casher on a $585 payroll check?"

In Are Banks on the Map? NCRC surveys 25 of the largest metropolitan municipalities, including their surrounding areas (MSAs), and maps out the number of bank branches located in communities based on income-level and minority population. This report shows in 24 out of 25 MSAs, urban areas that have dense populations have fewer bank branches -- therefore fewer mainstream banking opportunities -- than the less populated suburbs. Without the ability to build relationships with the regulated banking community, working class and minority neighborhoods are more likely to use"fringe" services, such as payday lenders and pawnshops, for small loans. They are also more likely to have their home loans originated with mortgage brokers and subprime lenders, which often led to foreclosures and unmanageable monthly payments.

"There are an estimated 14 million US households that do not have regular access to bank services," says Taylor. "If banks develop and expandtheir products needed by these communities, they would be helping themselves and the people they're chartered to assist."

At the top of the list with favorable bank branch/customer ratio, San Francisco, Miami, and Boston had higher than average number of branches in minority neighborhoods, whereas Houston, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago had relatively fewer in these communities.

Based on the findings in this report, NCRC calls for more attention tobe directed to the regulated and unregulated financial services available in these communities and for the strengthening of the Service Test of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). CRA requires banks to meet the needs ofthe communities in which they are located. By enhancing the Service Test, the public will be able to adequately measure the number of branches in various communities to evaluate whether banks are providing the quality and quantity need in those areas.

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Empire State Building's Bright Lights Go Dark For Blindness

The world famous tower lights of the Empire State Building will be turned off for 28 minutes on March 1, to remember the 28 million people around the world who are unnecessarily blind.

Before the lights go out at 20:20 (8:20 p.m. ET), the tower will shine blue and white in tribute to the 25th anniversary of ORBIS International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving sight worldwide. Through its work, ORBIS volunteers and staff have directly restored the vision and transformed the lives of millions of people in 85 countries.

"We see this as a tremendous opportunity to help advance the work ofORBIS and have an unprecedented impact, both in terms of raising awareness and making a global call for the eradication of unnecessary blindness,"says James Connors, Empire State Building general manager.

ORBIS President and Executive Director Oliver Foot says, "Most people hear '20/20' and think of perfect vision. When the Empire State Building turns off its lights at 20:20 this will draw attention to the plight of 28 million people who are blind and could be cured -- right now -- if they had access to the proper eye care. It is tremendously encouraging that the world's most famous building is supporting this initiative and lending its name to a global call for action."

March 1 has been proclaimed "ORBIS Day" by Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City.

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