Is Our Drinking Water At Risk?

The natural gas industry considers the Marcellus Shale something of a gold mine, as the ancient rock formation, extending through Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York, contains between 168 trillion to 516 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, experts say.

The problem is that to extract the gas, companies are using new technologies combining large quantities of water, pressure and unidentified chemicals to force the gas from the shale, and many believe that this endangers our drinking water, forests, wildlife and personal well-being.  

More than two dozen concerned citizens and local government officials were on hand at Hector's Village Café yesterday morning to hear about these dangers in an event presented by the League of Women Voters (LWV) of Larchmont and Mamaroneck.

"We are always interested in educating people on how to take positive steps," said Elisabeth Radow, the chair of the Environmental Committee for the LWV branch.

"It's a very compelling topic and is one of the most critical topics that I have seen in a long time," she said. "We are looking overall at 15 million people whose water supply can be affected because of the drilling."

One thing was made very clear by the discussion: New York doesn't have the right kind of regulations in place to handle the environmental realities and the consequences can be serious.

Marian Rose of the Croton Watershed Clean Water Coalition began by talking about how the drilling unleashes natural radioactivity in very large doses, so there's the potential of toxicity or cancer.

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has no control over what they are doing, and they will not tell you what the impact will be," Rose said. "We believe if you don't know what's going to happen, then don't do it."

Currently, New York has no regulations about the amount of water that can be extracted. A large concern is that the more drilling that is done, the more water that is needed, and therefore, the forests are being put in danger.

"The Coalition is trying hard to protect the forests in this area," Rose said. "Nearly 75 percent of our watershed is from the forest, which is why we have good water. If you fragment the forest too much, the landscape will be transformed to a bleak industrial landscape, which will have a major impact on water quality."

Deborah Goldberg, managing attorney of Earthjustice's New York office, startled the crowd when she talked about water in Pennsylvania that was apparently affected by the drilling so much that water from faucets could be lit on fire.

"The state of Pennsylvania realized quickly that if they continued to drill they would impact every fresh water stream in a period of two years," she said. "They are now preparing regulations to protect their waters."

The hope is that New York will do the same thing. As it stands now, New York is in the middle of an environmental review process, and environmental groups hope that the regulations will be substantially revised. If not, Goldberg said, expect to see a great deal of litigation come about.

Ernie Odierna, councilman for the Town of Mamaroneck, was on-hand and believes this is an issue that everyone should get behind.

"Residents should communicate with their elected officials," he said. "We are fortunate to have Assemblyman George Latimer here today to hear it first hand, but the rest of them should know about the jeopardy that our environment is being put into because of this. I think that's key."