NYS Fracking Regulations 2012–How to Comment to DEC
Comment Period: Tuesday, Dec. 12 to Friday, Jan. 11, 2013.
Joe Heath’s Guidance on Making Comments: FrackRegsCommentMm12-19-12 (2)
Official Documents:
Drafts of the Regulations: http://www.dec.ny.gov/regulations/77353.html
Official DEC Comment forms : http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/76838.html
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233-6510
Sites Accepting Comments (With guidance and convenience)
New Yorkers Against Fracking http://nyagainstfracking.org/take-action/urgent-comment/
We need you to write comments to the DEC saying that fracking must be banned!
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We need to demonstrate that fracking cannot be regulated and that there’s overwhelming opposition across the state.Click here to write a comment now!Click here to join Dr. Steingraber’s “Thirty Comments in Thirty Days” initiative! |
Your action right now is critical in the campaign to ban fracking. The New York State Department of Conservation has issued proposed fracking regulations. This was a premature and irresponsible move; the department’s own (limited) public health review is not even finished yet. Now, as a result, we’ve been given 30 days to demonstrate – through public comments – two critical facts. First, that the wide range of impacts and hazards introduced by fracking cannot be regulated away. And second, that public opposition to fracking in New York State is broad and deep.
That’s where you come in. We need to overwhelm the DEC with comments that say fracking must be banned.
We have a SIMPLE guide and EASY online submission system for you to write comments.
Here’s what to do:
#1: Click here to follow the simple guide to submit a comment today! Submit your comments online easily or mail them to us and we’ll deliver them for you.
#2: Be a super-commenter! Given that there are many, many dangers and fatal issues to expose, Dr. Sandra Steingraber is leading a “Thirty Comments in Thirty Days” initiative. It works like an Advent calendar: each day during the thirty-day comment period, subscribers will receive information from Sandra about a different critical issue to comment on. Click here to join her initiative!
Downloadable tools include:
• A simple one-page comment form for people to sign that can be downloaded, printed, and circulated
• A one-page more detailed guide to making substantive comments
Right now: Click here to write a comment! If you only have a few minutes, submit a short one now. You can (and should!) submit more in the days to come.
Sample Comments from Experts:
NYCDEP Comments: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/news/natural_gas_drilling_dep.shtml
Onondaga Nation–Joe Heath
Sustainable Otsego– Kuzminski Reg Comments
League of Women Voters of New York Comments on Draft Regulations
NRDC Find NRDC’s full comments on the state’s proposed fracking rules here.
Louis Allstadt, Keith Schue, Ron Bishop
A “How-To” on Submitting Comments to DEC on the Draft HVHF RegulationsThe attached letter templates highlight many of the problematic omissions or inclusions in the draft revised HVHFregulations released by the DEC for comment. These templates have been provided to assist the average citizen in deciphering what the DEC plans for shale gas extraction in New York State, and help them participate meaningfully in the comment process.Do not copy directly but modify with your own experience and priorities. Also, add contextual literature references; as PSE/Ingraffea has recommended and a clear recommendation to each comment.I believe they also tend not to have a clear “bottom line” that asserts: I/we recommend: “…..”1. Select topics that you would like to comment on from the attached letter templates (the more the better).
2. Type your address at the top of each letter, below the date and above the DEC’s address.
3. Consider adding an opening paragraph that personalizes each letter – who you are, how allowing fracking in NY will adversely affect you, your family, your livelihood.
4. Consider adding a closing paragraph reiterating your concern about the impact this heavily polluting industry will have on you, your community, family, etc.
5. Print the letters. Be sure to sign each one!
6. Put each letter in a separate envelope to mail to the DEC. Be sure to put your return address on the envelope.
7. Mail no later than January 11th!
8. Encourage others to do the same. We want to generate as many individual comments as possible!Copies of Comment Letters: http://www.scribd.com/northrup49/documentsList of Comment Letters:– Chemical Disclosure
– Disposal of Fracking Waste
– Drinking Water Supplies
– Ecological Impacts
– Fencing and Security
– Financial Security of Deeper Wells
– Financial Security of Shallower Wells
– Finding Unplugged Wells
– Forest Fragmentation– Fracking Volume Loophole
– Freshwater Buffers
– Gas Venting and Flaring
– Liability for Accidents
– Local Government Consent
– Open Pits
– Operator Qualifications
– Pace of Development
– Permit Conditions
– Plugging Wells
– Principal and Primary Aquifers– Procedural Issues– Seismic Faults
– Setbacks – Dwellings
– Setbacks – Floodplains
– Setbacks – Public Assembly
– Setbacks – Variances
– State Lands
– Threatened and Endangered Species
– Water Well Testing
– Well Pad Spacing
– Well Site Impacts
– Wetlands
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE INFO ON WHERE THINGS STAND.
Guide to commenting on the Regulations
Wes Gillingham of the Catskill Mt. Keeper and biologist, author & activist Dr. Sandra Steingraber join Susan Arbetter to discuss what they consider to be lacking in the regs. http://www.wcny.org/capitolbureau/ 12/12/20 program
Events
“Responding to New Fracking Regulations” Video of this meeting and details on how to comment on the regs.
A panel of professionals who have studied policies and regulations on shale gas drilling will present their views. Speaking will be Dr. Tony Ingraffea of Cornell University, Helen Slottje of the Community Environmental Defense Council, and Dr. Sandra Steingraber of Ithaca College. Martha Robertson, Chair of the Tompkins County Legislature, will moderate.
GDACC 
