NYC's Bloomberg Opposes Gas Drilling in Watershed
Reuters
25 january 2010
By Edith Honan
ALBANY, N.Y., Jan 25 (Reuters) - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg
issued his most forceful statements to date opposing natural gas
drilling in the city's upstate watershed on Monday, in a boost for
anti-drilling protesters amid competing rallies in the state capital.
Bloomberg's Department of Environmental Protection previously urged the
state to ban shale gas drilling in the city's watershed. But Bloomberg
had yet to add his personal political heft to the debate, relying on
aides instead.
"The consequences are so severe that it is not a risk that I think we
should run. I do not think that we should allow fractured drilling
anywhere near our water supply," Bloomberg told reporters.
Natural gas companies have created a drilling boom in Pennsylvania with
a technique known as hydraulic fracturing and want to expand their
operations into New York state.
The Marcellus Shale formation underlying both states holds the promise
of providing the United States with a valuable domestic energy source.
But environmental concerns that drilling contaminates drinking water
have created regulatory risk for the industry.
The city on Monday sought a permit from the state to acquire additional
land to protect its watershed, an unfiltered source of drinking water
for some 9 million people. The city watershed accounts for 6 percent of
the shale area in New York state.
New York Governor David Paterson, facing a $7.4 billion deficit,
proposed opening the Marcellus Shale to hydraulic fracturing, in which
a combination of chemicals, sand and water are blasted through rock to
free trapped gas.
The natural gas industry argues that drilling poses no risk to drinking
water. But opponents say toxic fracking chemicals are contaminating
drinking water, citing numerous reports of private wells near gas
installations where water is discolored, foul-tasting or even flammable.
Industry Vs. Environmemntalists
Bloomberg's comments came as more than 1,000 people attended
dueling rallies on either side of the Capitol building.
Holding up signs that read "It's Safe, It's Green, It's Our Future" and
"Drill Baby Drill," some 700 landowners stood in the pouring rain to
make the case that gas drilling would create jobs and bring revenue to
economically depressed parts of the state.
The rally, organized by industry group Independent Oil and Gas
Association of New York State, did not address drilling in the
watershed.
"We're the ones who own the land, we have to live on it, and we want to
be able to use it for what we originally bought it for," said Drew
Griffin, a member of the pro-drilling Joint Landowners Coalition. "This
is America's fuel, it's America's future."
At a competing rally organized by environmental groups, about 600
people -- many of whom arrived by bus from New York City -- said the
industry was putting profits ahead of safety and waved signs reading
"You Can't Drink Money" and "Water: Our Best Resource."
"We can't let the gleam of potential profits leave us with a legacy of
polluted water and industrialized landscapes," said Wes Gillingham,
program director of Catskill Mountainkeeper.
The city and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have called on
the state to exempt the watershed from drilling, even as Chesapeake
Energy (CHK.N), the only gas company that holds leases in the
watersheds, has said publicly it does not intend to drill there.
(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Flood Morrow and Joan Gralla;
Writing by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Dan Grebler)