NY WELL WATCH

The Cornell University Faculty Senate will be discussing and voting on a very important resolution on gas drilling (see below) on Wed. Nov. 11th from 4:30 – 6 PM in Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall, on the first floor.

If passed, this resolution will ask the Cornell administration to share the decision to lease lands with faculty, staff, students, and alumni. It also asks the Cornell administration to take a lead in demanding sensible regulations for gas drilling at the State level.

If you are on the faculty at Cornell, please plan to attend and speak out during the discussion. All faculty have the right to speak, athough only members of the faculty senate can vote. Questions might arise, and it will be very important that as many knowledgeable and concerned faculty as possible are present to answer. Please forward this to anyone you know who is on the CU faculty.

WHEREAS, It is estimated that the geologic rock bed known as Marcellus
Shale may contain up to several trillion cubic feet of natural gas,
and dramatic increases in the price of crude oil and the corresponding
need to reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil have resulted in
a tremendous increase in interest and activity relating to natural gas
exploration and hydraulic fracturing;
WHEREAS, Cornell University is committed to environmental leadership
exemplified by the signing of the American University and College
Presidents Climate Commitment by President Skorton;
WHEREAS, Cornell University has a great responsibility to preserve and
protect its natural resources, water resources, and quality of life
for current and future Cornell faculty, staff and students;
WHEREAS, Cornell University is positioned to take a leadership role in
the issue of hydraulic fracturing of the Marcellus Shale,
sustainability education and research on water management, soil health
as well as animal and human health and medicine;
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Cornell Faculty Senate urges
President David J. Skorton:
1. To establish a committee of faculty, staff, students and alumni
empowered with the decision of whether to lease any university-owned
lands to natural gas drilling companies.
2. To urge the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
to delay the issuance of permits for gas drilling until such time as
New York State has completed all necessary and appropriate studies and
has in place an adequately funded as well as staffed inspection and
enforcement program.
3. To urge New York State to enact a severance tax and adequate permit
fees on gas drilling companies to pay the costs of regulation and
oversight of drilling, and to mitigate the cost of repairing roadways
and resolving environmental impacts due to drilling.
4. To urge New York State to require that all chemicals (and specific
formulations of those chemicals) intended to be introduced into wells
be identified and the information be made public, with special
notification to local emergency response personnel and health care
providers, before use of such chemicals is permitted.

Background.
Gas production by hydraulic fracturing involves drilling 2,000 to
5,000 feet deep into the Marcellus Shale and then drilling as much as
one mile, horizontally. Three to five million gallons of water laced
with sand and 30,000 to 50,000 gallons of potentially toxic substances
(approximately 1% of the total volume of water), including known
carcinogens, endocrine disrupters, arsenic, hydrogen sulfide, mercury,
benzene, toluene, xylene and formaldehyde, are then pumped into the
well under very high pressure to fracture the shale and release the
gas.
At least 65 of the chemicals currently in use are classified as
hazardous under federal laws, but are not treated as hazardous during
drilling and disposal because of gas industry exemptions to the Clean
Water Act, the Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
(CERCLA, also known as the Superfund law), the Resource Conservation
and Recovery act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act. Companies can
withhold all proprietary chemical formulations of the chemicals they
use in the hydraulic fracturing process. 

Without complete
proprietary information on every chemical used, it is impossible to
test for contamination of water supplies. Because compound-specific
toxicity data are very limited for many chemical additives to
fracturing fluids, it is of the utmost importance that studies on
short and long-term health effects of such chemicals be done before
the start of drilling, not afterwards.
Hydraulic fracturing fluids can be pumped under the homes and land of
people who have not signed leases, as well as under natural areas and
Cornell lands, if 60% of a designated land unit is leased (compulsory
integration) . The water (more per well than the City of Ithaca uses in
a day) can be removed from local streams and ponds at no cost to the
gas companies. The hydraulic fracturing fluid dissolves salts,
radioactive material, and heavy metals (including lead, arsenic, and
mercury) as it passes through the underground shale layers, so
flowback from the well (essentially the same volume initially injected
in the well) is more toxic than the hydraulic fracturing fluid. Once
at the surface, it can accumulate as sediments in holding tanks and
ponds.
To dispose of flowback fluid, gas companies may inject it deep
underground and leave it, truck it to Pennsylvania, or have it treated
and released locally. Current wastewater treatment facilities in the
state are not able to deal with these high volume wastes without
serious upgrading, and it is not even clear whether upgrading will
enable them to remove these chemicals adequately. If those plants
accept the water, they will have to establish testing and monitoring
systems to ensure the discharges will not pollute neighboring bodies
of water—Cayuga Lake, its inlet, reservoirs, surrounding creeks andd
streams.
Well pads, which may host one or many gas wells and are three to five
acres or larger, are cleared, industrial areas with roads, drill rigs,
pipelines, storage tanks, dozens of tanker trucks, buildings for
workers, and holding pits for hydraulic fracturing fluids and drilling
refuse. The holding pits attract wildlife and cattle (due to the salt)
and can be lethal to birds and other wildlife that drink from them or
are coated by the fluids. Pit liners may leak, pits may overflow, or
fluids may be spilled, contaminating soil, surface water, and ground
water. Hydraulic fracturing is the suspected source of impaired or
polluted drinking water in Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Wyoming.
Drilling for gas is a highly industrial undertaking creating both air
and noise pollution: numerous truckloads of equipment, chemicals, sand
and water along with generators, pumps, drilling rigs and hoists,
running at all hours of the day producing noise and exhaust fumes. For
example, the hydraulic fracturing process for one well requires nearly
1,000 tanker truck trips to the site.
Given the important environmental issues associated with this new
industrial process that will have a major impact on the University
itself and the quality of life for students, faculty, staff and
members of our community, it is essential that careful consideration
be given to leasing Cornell land. Currently, studies are underway
(funded by Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Cornell University
Agricultural Experiment Station, and the Cornell Center for a
Sustainable Future) to assess the environmental impact of natural gas
drilling, but the results are not yet available. Furthermore, the
commitment of the University to a sustainable future requires that it
take a leadership role in New York State in this important issue.