To the Editor:
As regulators weigh the benefits of drilling 40,000 gas wells across New
York State, the Department of Environmental Conservation’s scant
analysis of fracking’s potential costs overstates job benefits and omits
state Transportation Department estimates of road maintenance costs
exceeding $375 million.
Numerous studies show that drill-friendly communities underperform their
neighbors in income, employment, education and investment. The D.E.C.
now admits that its review was inadequate. Worse, the department
completely ignores fracking’s health effects despite compelling evidence
from Texas of asthma levels three times higher in areas affected by
fracking.
Pennsylvanians are sick from arsenic, benzene and toluene from nearby
fracking wells. Two hundred fifty medical professionals petitioned New
York State last year for a health assessment and received no response.
The director of the National Center for Environmental Health at the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Christopher Portier,
recently urged, “More research is needed for us to understand public
health impacts from natural gas drilling and new gas drilling
technologies.”
It is an unwise gamble for New York State to make its fracking decision without the facts.
ROBERT F. KENNEDY Jr.
PAUL GALLAY
White Plains, March 23, 2012
PAUL GALLAY
White Plains, March 23, 2012
The writers are presidents of, respectively, the Waterkeeper Alliance and Hudson Riverkeeper.
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