Photo: WikipediaWalter Hang, propriétaire de la compagnie Toxic Targeting, se sert de l'accès à l'information pour comparer les plaintes reliées aux déversements et la pollution engendrés par le forage pour extraire le gaz naturel: il collige ces renseignements pour les municipalités et les ingénieurs. L'état de New York insiste pour dire qu'il n'y a très peu de problèmes environnementaux liés au fraking. Pourtant, un spécialiste de ressources d'eau au département de la santé du comté de Chautauqua rapporte plus de 140 plaintes d'eau polluée ou de migration du gaz associées aux forages avoisinants.
Ces cas n'aparaissent pas dans la banque de données du département de conservation environnemental de l'état de New-York et soulèvent des questionnements: pourquoi est-ce que l'état n'est pas plus transparent quand il s'agit de sa surveillance de l'industrie gazière? En novembre 2009, Hang a divulgué une liste de 270 cas de contamination et de dommages environnementaux causés par l'industrie gazière et pétrolière depuis les 30 dernières années. Il dénonce le fait que ces données ne sont pas facilement accessibles au grand public: les résidents ont le fardeau de la preuve et le département ne les aident pas beaucoup en n'incluant pas toutes les plaintes et les problèmes rapportés dans l'évaluation de l'industrie.
Si les informations sont difficiles à obtenir pour le commun des mortels, le fédéral à Washington prétend que l'état de New-York est à court de personnel pour répondre à tous les communiqués qui lui ont été envoyés en relation avec l'étude en impact environnemental sur le forage par fracturation hydraulique dans le shale du Marcellus. Le fédéral prétend que l'état est encore moins prêt à protéger la vie de ses citoyens et la qualité de son environnement des effets négatifs du forage pour le gaz naturel à cause de son manque de personnel.
Cela est dû aux coupures de budget que l'état a dû s'imposer: New York n'a que 16 employés pour réviser les 14,000 commentaires qui lui ont été adressé dans le dossier d'étude en impacts du gaz naturel. Le porte-parole du Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York dit que l'état n'a qu'à commencer à donner des permis pour forer et recevra ainsi amplement d'argent pour engager et payer d'autres employés. La journaliste termine son article en disant que cela semble familier, comme les banques qui payent les cotisations des agences de notation!
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"Activist challenges DEC claim of few gas drilling problems
The state's assertion that natural gas production is a clean, well-regulated industry has been called into question by memos from a health official working in drilling communities in western New York. William T. Boria, a water resources specialist at the Chautauqua County Health Department, reported his agency has received more than 140 complaints related to water pollution or gas migration associated with nearby drilling operations. The cases correspond to a time when the industry took root in western New York decades ago, according to Boria, and continue through the last few years.
"Those complaints that were recorded are probably just a fraction of the actual problems that occurred," Boria stated in a 2004 memo summarizing the issue. County health officials tabulated information on 53 of the cases from 1983 to 2008 on a spreadsheet, including one where a home was evacuated after the water well exploded.
Data and memos were obtained from the county health agencies through the Freedom of Information Law by Walter Hang, a database specialist in Ithaca.
The cases do not appear on a database kept by the state Department of Environmental Conservation to track problems and complaints related to spills and pollution.The volume of cases may be small or not so small, depending on your view, but they pertain to a bigger question about transparency of the state's oversight of the industry. At several public information sessions on natural gas drilling in recent years, regulators from the Mineral Resources Division of the state Department of Environmental Conservation have characterized the industry as being problem-free in New York.
At the center of the debate is an apparent disconnect between regulators' assertions that drilling problems are minimal, and complaints filed by residents living near rigs suggesting otherwise. It's become a theme in the larger debate about drilling. Hang's firm, Toxic Targeting, compiles government environmental data for municipalities and engineers. In November, Hang released a list of 270 files, compiled from the DEC's own spills database, documenting cases of contamination and ecological damage involving oil and gas industry operations over the past 30 years.
Dangers ranged from methane migration -- which causes explosion hazards when gas collects in water wells and enclosed spaces -- to contamination from brine and other byproducts of drilling. A former organizer with the New York Public Interest Research Group. Hang has been an activist pushing to reform DEC regulations governing the gas industry. He says residents affected by drilling problems face an impossible burden of proof, and the DEC does nothing to help them.
"You've had these problems for 25 years," Hang said. "Time and time again, the DEC's Mineral resources turns a blind eye and says it's marsh gas, or doesn't even investigate. Local communities have been struggling with the problem on their own."
Hang is bothered by the fact that the Eddy case and other problems are not recorded in a database easily accessible and searchable by the public. He is also troubled by the DEC's failure to acknowledge them in their overall assessment of risks the agency presents to the public."
Excerpts from an article written by Tom Wilber published in The Ithaca Journal here: http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20100404/NEWS01/4040356/1001/news/Activist-challenges-DEC-claim-of-few-gas-drilling-problems
And if information not being accessible to the public is not enough, how about not having enough staff to answer those questions?
"New York DEC Staff Shorthanded to Reply to 14,000 Marcellus Shale Comments – Environmental Inspectors Down to 16
As the short-staffed New York State environmental agency avoids remarking on its ability to monitor natural gas drilling, an investigation by DCBureau reveals a decline in inspectors. This intensifies grave concerns about New York Department of Environmental Conservation’s ability to protect its citizens and the environment from negative impacts of gas drilling.
But before DEC can issue permits using horizontal drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing, the agency must complete its final statement on these techniques, which includes responding to about 14,000 comments on its environmental impact statement. According to Grannis, DEC expects to complete its review of horizontal drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing in late summer or early fall. He says staff shortages are responsible for the lengthy review process.
Last week, DEC announced that drillers pursuing permits in the New York City and Syracuse watersheds must conduct an individual environmental impact review – as opposed to the state’s generic environmental impact assessment, which will be required for applicants pursuing drilling permits in other areas of New York. This announcement removes these watersheds from the environmental impact statement of horizontal drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing. If DEC receives many applications for drilling permits in these watersheds, the short-staffed agency may have trouble analyzing separate environmental impact reviews.
Smith (Jim Smith, a spokesman for Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York) says when the agency issues gas drilling permits, there will be “more than enough” money to finance additional staff due to permit fees and gas production revenues which go to the state. That sounds familiar, like banks paying the rating agency fees."
Excerpts from article written by Allison Sickle published in DCBureau here: http://dcbureau.org/20100429367/Natural-Resources-News-Service/new-york-dec-staff-shorthanded-to-reply-to-13500-marcellus-shale-comments-environmental-inspectors-down-to-16.html
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