DEC PEF Supports 1 year Moratorium

New York State

PUBLIC EMPLOYEES FEDERATION AFL-CIO

LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT 1-800-724-4997

100 State Street, Suite 1070 1-518-432-4003

Albany, NY 12207 Fax: 1-518-432-7739

Kenneth Brynien, President; Arlea Igoe, Secretary Treasurer

June 1, 2011

A7400\Sweeney

The New York State Public Employees Federation, representing 56,000

Professional, Scientific, and Technical workers of New York State, supports

this legislation.

This bill suspends the issuance of new permits for the drilling of wells

that utilize hydraulic fracturing until June 1, 2012.

The use of hydraulic fracturing to harvest natural gas in the Marcellus and

Utica shale formations should not proceed until the environmental impact

and state’s ability to ensure the safety of its citizens has been fully

determined.

PEF represents employees at the Department of Environmental Conservation

(DEC). It must be noted that DEC has 800 less staff than it did in 2009,

severely inhibiting the agency’s ability to oversee extraction properly,

from the permit process through remediation should a spill occur.

The state would be well served by deferring hydraulic fracturing permitting

while the US Environmental Protection Agency finalizes its study and until

the revised draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement has

been fully reviewed. This time should be used to identify funding to ensure

that DEC is appropriately staffed and can effectively regulate the process.

For these reasons, the Public Employees Federation urges you to support

this legislation.

For more information, please contact:

Brian F. Curran, Legislative Director and Counsel