Despite some very contentious public hearings and thousands of public comments against hydraulic fracture gas drilling in the Catskill-Delaware Watershed, the DEC has still not banned the practice, putting more than 9 million New Yorker's water supply at risk.So yesterday, protesters from all over the state descended on the Capitol of New York to tell their state representatives this is not acceptable.
There were around 1200 protesters in total but somewhere around half of them were for gas drilling while the other half were against it.
The pro gas drilling rally was organized by the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York State (big surprise) and consisted of land owners who wanted the right to drill on their land. The anti hydra-fracture gas drilling protest was organized by various environmental and community groups and consisted of people from all over the state who were mainly concerned with water supply issues.
What struck me was that the pro gas drilling rally did not address drinking water issues at all but mainly focused on the right of landowners to use their land for whatever they wanted. They argued that they would be the first to feel the impact of environmental problems, so they would not do something that was not environmentally safe.
The problem with this argument is that landowners are getting paid for the environmental risks that they take. In the mean time, millions of other residents take a huge environmental risk and get next to nothing for it (besides a marginal increase in tax revenue).
Ultimately, damages done to our water supply cannot be taken back. State regulators need to protect public assets over the short term interests of a few land owners. Our water supply needs to be kept safe for generations to come. I hope yesterdays call to protect our water was heard.
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