Fracking Health Campaign

2/26/2013 (Updated 2/27/2013 4:54:30 PM)

Anti-fracking activists are pressuring the governor to open the state's health review of the drilling practice to the public.
 
They also came to City Hall armed with maps showing current toxic sites and locations of uncapped wells in New York State to argue the Department of Environmental Conservation hasn't been able to properly regulate conventional drilling. State DEC commissioner Joe Martens said his department won't set forth fracking regulations before the health review is finished.

"It is being undertaken completely in secret. There has never been a single piece of paper released to the public about the scope of the Department of Health review, about how it is being undertaken," said Walter Hang of Toxics Targeting.
"New York state had a great record and that's why we didn't have to recreate the wheel? Well it's clear we have to recreate the wheel especially for an industry that is far more intrusive than vertical drilling," said Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan.

The DEC says complaints regarding potentially leaking wells have proven to be from wells drilled before environmental regulations were put in place or were from naturally occurring sources of contamination. New York will miss a deadline tomorrow to release a set of fracking regulations. But Martens has said he can issue fracking permits after the health review is done, if the review finds the health concerns have been adequately addressed.

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