New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and the state’s Department of
Environmental Conservation (DEC) are fast- tracking an end to
the state’s fracking ban. Fracking causes egregious, permanent
harm to people, wildlife and the environment. Fracking injects
millions of gallons of highly pressurized water and an unknown
cocktail of toxic chemicals deep underground to break rocks that
release natural gas. This causes ground water contamination - as
gases, chemicals and even radioactivity flow to the surface –
and can cause earthquakes as deep bedrock is pulverized. Shale
gas is a fossil fuel, with a greenhouse gas footprint as least
as big as coal, with devastating effects on climate change, and
delays investment and development of renewable sources of energy
with far greater public benefits. Some 4 million gallons of
water and 200 tons of chemicals are used to frack a well once,
which may be fracked up to 18 times. The DEC public comment
process to end the ban and regulate fracking has been a deeply
flawed sham – askin