Tell Governor Paterson to Scrap the Drilling Plan and Start Over
Speaker Christine Quinn, Council Members, State elected officials, and leading environmental advocates joined on the steps of City Hall urging the Governor Paterson and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to withdraw the irresponsible gas drilling plan and draft a new one.

The US Environmental Protection Agency and the city Department of Environmental Protection released comments detailing serious concerns with the state’s draft Supplemental Geographic Environmental Impact Statement (dSGEIS). We agree, and in particular are concerned with the following:

• the document does not analyze cumulative impacts of gas drilling
• the document does not consider alternatives
• the document does not include nor call for a separate impact assessment on public health

Gas drilling in New York City’s watershed is clearly a mistake that could cost billions of dollars to the city. It is also clear that drilling anywhere in the state under the current plan could lead to significant problems and the state’s dSGEIS is not sufficient.

The state’s SGEIS does not include information on cumulative and indirect impacts on drilling. This information is necessary if residents of New York State are to feel confident about what the reasonably foreseeable impacts are and that those impacts will be managed in a way that will keep everyone safe.

In addition, state requirements say that this document should consider alternatives to what has been proposed. Those alternatives are not present. The use of less chemicals, or chemicals that are less toxic, should be examined and if feasible should be required.

The state Department of Health needs to be a co-partner in this environmental impact but was not involved in the dSGEIS. There are the potential for great health impacts due to natural gas drilling and those impacts should be assessed by DOH. While their involvement is essential for drinking water concerns, it is equally important considering local drinking water and other health effects in New York State.

Please sign on below to call on the state to submit a new draft SGEIS – one that looks at cumulative impacts, that considers alternatives, and includes DOH to study health impacts.