Hydrofracking
Read ADK's
comments on DEC's proposed hydrofracking regulations.
For more than four years, ADK's Public Affairs Office has been deeply involved in issues surrounding potential gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, an underground formation that stretches across New York from the Catskills to Lake Erie. ADK is particularly concerned about potential drilling using high-volume hydraulic fracturing, combined with horizontal drilling, on public lands, including state parks, state forests, and wildlife management areas.
About 90 percent of modern gas wells employ high volume hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which involves pumping a pressurized mixture of water, sand, and chemicals into deep underground formations. The process fractures rock formations and frees the natural gas. Industry officials insist the process is safe, but critics point to a number of cases of water contamination near drilling sites. Fracking raises a number of other environmental concerns. It requires clearing of 3 to 5 acres for each well site, and each "frack" job requires millions of gallons of water that must be trucked to the well site. There is also the issue of disposing of fracking wastewater, which is usually highly saline and radioactive.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is conducting a comprehensive study "to investigate the potential adverse impact that hydraulic fracturing may have on water quality and public health.” Meanwhile, the Cuomo administration is considering whether to allow fracking in New York.
Read earlier ADK
comments on hydraulic fracturing.
