Forbid horizontal fracking » Opinion » The Daily Star, Oneonta, NY – otsego county news, delaware county news, oneonta news, oneonta sports

We have been highly critical of our state Legislature. Corruption and incompetence are rampant in Albany. However, our lawmakers did pass a statewide moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, which we supported last year.

Three area towns _ Springfield, Middlefield and Otsego _ are developing regulations that would restrict or ban natural gas drilling. Buffalo has already banned hydraulic fracturing, the process of injecting water, sand and chemicals, some toxic, into the ground under high pressure to shatter rock and release natural gas.

The Department of Environmental Conservation is studying hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and is scheduled to release its findings in June.

The New York Times recently obtained documents from the government and drilling industry that reveal new concerns about fracking. The Times reported Feb. 26 that secret documents and studies from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the drilling industry prove fracking wastewater contains high levels of radioactive contaminants, which are being released into waterways that supply drinking water.

This is an outrage. It’s a classic example of Big Business not caring what gets polluted or who gets sick on the way to multibillion-dollar profits.

The Times referred to the natural gas boom as this century’s gold rush. Advocates say drilling creates jobs and could wean us from our foreign oil dependency. Environmentalists have said that burning natural gas will slow climate change.

We would like to see all of these things _ but not at this price.

Our health should not be for sale. It is the most important thing in our lives, for without it, we have nothing.

“You still have your health” is an adage that rings true. Try telling a terminal cancer patient that he still has his money.

There are countless media reports of fracking causing health and environmental problems. The Associated Press reported this week that fracking is being blamed for smog in rural Wyoming. The region’s ozone levels are two-thirds higher than the EPA’s healthy limit. This is just the latest article among many from Texas, Arkansas, Pennsylvania and a growing number of other states. A quick search on the Internet provides hours of reading material, from contaminated drinking water to exploding houses.

We appreciate the efforts of the DEC to tackle this problem, and to attempt to craft regulations that will protect New Yorkers. But nothing the agency will say can change the fact that the gas industry has shown it has no idea how to conduct horizontal drilling without contaminating our aquifers and drinking water and polluting our air.

Our Legislature needs to do the right thing, and ban hydraulic fracturing in New York state.