EPA Weighs in on Hydrofracturing Environmental Impact Statement

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EPA Weighs in on Hydrofracturing Environmental Impact Statement

1 February 2010 132 views View Comments

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Will Fall Clove Brook, feeder stream to the Pepacton Reservoir, be polluted by gas-drilling fracking chemicals?

From the Walton Reporter (no website), January 6, 2010, abbreviated.

On Dec 30, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) submitted its comments on the draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (DSGEIS), which was prepared by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), for horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to develop natural gas from the Marcellus Shale formation. The last date to comment on the DSGEIS was Dec 31.

In a cover letter to the comments submitted to the DEC, the EPA Region 2 chief of strategic planning, John Filippelli, listed the EPA’s “major concerns.”

The DSGEIS does not fully review and anticipate the “past, present and reasonably foreseeable future” impacts of the horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing of the shale that could occur in the area of the drilling and at a distance from the drilling, such as increased truck traffic and water usage.
The DSGEIS does not include an evaluation of the environmental impacts of the separate yet inter-related actions of siting and constructing gathering lines. The New York State Service Commission (PSC) has the regulatory authority over the construction and operation of the natural gas gathering pipes.
The DSGEIS does not analyze the impacts from new drilling service industries that would undoubtedly result.
EPA recommends that the PSC become a cooperating agency “to ensure a full analysis of cumulative and indirect impacts.
EPA suggests that since the New York State Department of Health has been delegated primary enforcement responsibility commonly referred to as primacy, of the Safe Water Drinking Act by the EPA, that the Department of Health should be given co-leader status in developing the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) document, so it can offer its expertise to the process.
Despite the mitigation measures already proposed by DEC in the DSGEIS, EPA has serious reservations about whether gas drilling in the New York City Watershed is consistent with the version of the long term maintenance of a high quality unfiltered water supply. As DEC is well aware, the watershed supplies drinking water to over nine million people and the avoidance of filtration saves New York taxpayers billions of dollars that would be needed to construct and operate a water filtration plant should the watershed be compromised.
DEC should partner with the EPA and DEP to develop regulatory programs specific to the watershed and offers to have EPA partner with DEC to develop regulatory programs for the remainder of the state.
The DSGEIS does not take into account population increases, habitat fragmentation and climate change that have occurred since the original GEIS on gas drilling was written in 1992.
EPA suggests that DEC consult with the Indian Nation of the state, as the DSGEIS does not specifically address the impact on the Nations. In November 2009, at the EPA’s annual meeting with Indian leaders, the leaders expressed “serious opposition to hydrofracturing. Indian Nation concerns include the radioactivity of cuttings and flowback materials, the fate of toxic/carcinogenic chemicals used in hydrofracturing solutions, the impact on water quality, climate impacts and long-term sustainability.”
EPA encourages DEC to release information regarding the composition of hydrofracturing solutions that are expected to be used.
EPA observes that the DEC is relying on other agencies to regulate the withdrawal of high volumes of surface and groundwater for the hydrofracturing process. The EPA said that it wants further explanation of who will regulate the withdrawal of water in the parts of the state that are not under the aegis of the Delaware River Basin Commission, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission and the Great Lakes Commission.
EPA is asking DEC to describe how it expects to finance the staff necessary to regulate the anticipated proliferation of gas wells.
EPA believes that DEC has prepared an informative DSGEIS on hydrologic fracturing of the Marcellus Shale. However, we have concerns regarding potential impacts to human health and the environment that we believe warrant further scientific and regulatory analysis. Of particular concern to EPA are issues involving water supply, water quality, wastewater treatment operations, local and regional air quality, management of naturally occurring radioactive materials disturbed during drilling, cumulative environmental impacts and the New York City Watershed.