TESTIMONY OF EILEEN HAMLIN, STATEWIDE BOARD MEMBER CITIZEN ACTION OF NEW YORK TO THE NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT

OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION ON HYDRAULIC FRACTURING NOVEMBER 17, 2011

(Binghamton Hearing)

For more information, contact: Bob Cohen, Esq., Policy Director Citizen Action of New York and Public Policy and Education Fund 94 Central Avenue Albany, NY 12206 (518) 465-4600 (ext. 104) bcohen@citizenactionny.org

www.citizenactionny.org

Representatives of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC): my name is Eileen Hamlin. I am a statewide board member of Citizen Action of New York, a membership organization that advocates for social, racial, economic and environmental justice with chapters or affiliates in seven communities throughout New York State. I also chair Citizen Actions Southern Tier chapter. For the reasons I discuss below, Citizen Action is totally opposed to hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking in New York State. However, today I speak not just as a representative of Citizen Actions over 20,000 members, but as a thirty-year resident of Broome County whose quality of life will be seriously harmed by this practice. My own story should stand as a dramatic example as to why the second draft of the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (the draft EIS) is completely insufficient and that DEC should not allow hydrofracking in the Marcellus Shale.

I. Overview of Our Concerns and the Response in the SGEIS

The short time allowed for testimony at these hearings of course does not permit me to fully address the issues presented by hydrofracking in New York State and the proposed regulations. Therefore, I would focus on a few distinct concerns today. First, the draft EIS has not addressed the numerous and complex health and environmental risks represented by hydrofracking to residents of the region. As a New York Times article recently summarized, a well can produce over a million gallons of wastewater that is often laced with highly corrosive salts, carcinogens like benzene and radioactive elements like radium.
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And of course, additional

chemicals are added to the wastewater by the hydrofracking process itself. Since the exact composition of the so called produced water is a trade secret, it is clear that DEC cannot assure the public the process can be made safe. The lack of a public health risk assessment alone makes the draft EIS fatally flawed.
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Ian Urbina, Regulation Lax as Gas Wells Tainted Water Hits Rivers, New York Times (February 26, 2011).

As the Sierra Club and others have pointed out, the ban on fracking in the New York City and Syracuse watersheds alone amounts to an admission by DEC that the risks of this process are unacceptable. Simply put, if the sum total of drilling activity and the movement of millions of gallons of potentially hazardous waste is a danger to those who in the New York City and Syracuse regions, I cannot see why it can be justified in other parts of the state. One standard should apply to water resources throughout the state. Second, the draft EIS has not adequately considered the impact of large-scale hydrofracking on local resources such as municipal waste water treatment facilities and roads throughout upstate New York, as well as the full economic impacts on local communities. The draft EIS has failed to address the inadequate capacity of publicly owned treatment works which will potentially receive millions of gallons of drilling wastewater. To this we must add the inevitable increased wear and tear on local roads and the increased traffic, noise and demands on local services like housing and emergency response systems. We can also expect that hydrofracking will hurt the states vital tourism industry. Local governments in upstate New York cannot afford these increased economic burdens on top of their current crushing financial obligations: from maintaining social services to pension obligations. Third, we simply do not believe that the state government will be able to meet the enormous regulatory burden necessary to protect the public from the hazards of hydrofracking, especially in this tight economic climate. Hundreds of new DEC inspectors will be required, at an estimated cost of up to $25 million to next years general fund state budget. Given the resistance of the Legislature and the Governor to generating new state tax revenues, we simply are not confident that funding will be found to adequately protect the public from the known hazards of this dangerous new industry.

II. The Impact on Landowners Like Myself in the Southern Tier

And finally, we cannot forgot the impact on homeowners and landowners like myself. DEC has projected that there will be 21,000 wells in Broome and Tioga
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Counties alone.

That number of wells will cause serious impacts on landowners and

other residents who happen to live near to drill sites. My situation is a perfect example of this, as the neighbors on all sides of my home and land will grant drilling rights. I am extremely concerned about the possibility of the leaking of wastewater fluid from gas wells and open waste pits onto my land and into my pond, endangering my well and water supply. I fear that I and my husband will have to move from the home we have lived in for three decades, and should we have to sell, it will be at a severely reduced price due to the fear of prospective buyers to locate near where drilling is occurring, and the fear or unwillingness of banks to finance the sale. On behalf of myself and Citizen Action, I ask that the state totally reexamine its shockingly misdirected moves towards hydrofracking before the environmental and economic damage to our state becomes irreparable. Thank you once again for scheduling these hearings and for the opportunity to testify.