Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper® has prepared a 9-page technical memorandum in response to the NYS DEC Revised Draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (dSGEIS) public comment period. Riverkeeper’s position statement was developed based on local knowledge of the Niagara region’s waterways and their current impairments, review of High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing (HVHF) industry best management practices, and evaluation of current environmental regulations and policies.
After careful consideration and technical review of the dSGEIS, Buffalo Niagara RIVERKEEPER® concludes that high-volume hydraulic fracturing activities cannot be conducted in a manner that is protective of both human health and the environment until the issues related to water quality and water quantity impacts outlined in the technical memorandum are addressed.
Riverkeeper has identified the following four focus areas on which our technical comments are based:
1) Regulatory Standards & Policy
2) Chemical Constituents in Wastewater
3) Large Volume Water Withdrawals and Transfers
4) Environmental Reclamation and Mitigation
The full summary of key points below can be downloaded here.
The technical memorandum submitted to NYSDEC can be read and downloaded here.
1. REGULATORY STANDARDS & POLICY
DEC should not issue HVHF drilling permits unless an adequate wastewater management system has been identified and permitted by New York State.
Riverkeeper believes that HVHF wastewater permit standards should be based on strong science and independently verified.
Riverkeeper is concerned about the dSGEIS’s failure to address risks to New York State’s environment from out-of-state transport of HVHF wastewater, and deference to other states’ standards. Therefore, Riverkeeper supports the integration of interstate and international regulation and standards.
Riverkeeper believes the current dSGEIS does not adequately capture the potential localized and site specific water quality and quantity impacts.
Since the final GEIS will govern the conditions under which HVHF can occur in New York State for the foreseeable future, Riverkeeper recommends that DEC take as much time as necessary to properly receive, review and address public comments prior to completing the final GEIS document.
2. CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS IN WASTEWATER
Riverkeeper supports the full disclosure of all chemical constituents expected to be contained in recovered wastewater (including but not limited to “flowback fluid” or “production brine”) and at any point that the water use or wastewater discharge could potentially impact a publicly-owned treatment plant, waterway, groundwater, or aquifer. In addition, since there is little information on the fate and transport of unrecovered chemicals, constituents in fluid that would not be returned to the surface for processing should also be disclosed.
Riverkeeper is concerned that even though the industry is obligated to provide complete disclosure of all chemical constituents to NYSDEC, the public participation in the permitting process and public disclosure of chemical additives can be severely limited by industry claims of proprietary data or information.
Riverkeeper believes that DEC needs to assess both the potential individual and cumulative impacts from potential chemical use, reactions, and combinations prior to the issuance of permits and acceptance of wastewater discharges into the environment.
Riverkeeper believes there is a need to better assess the potential cumulative impacts associated with “NORM” (Normally Occurring Radioactive Material) and the dSGEIS should be more specific about what the prescribed “controls” will be.
3. HIGH VOLUME WATER WITHDRAWAL
If HVHF activities are permitted, the dSGEIS does not provide for an adequate review of alternative processes or technologies.
Riverkeeper recommends the DEC should assess potential localized impacts of large volume water withdrawals, associated with any HVHF activity in New York State. This includes the need for adequate mapping, modeling, testing and monitoring plans associated with large volume withdrawals from surface and sub-surface water resources before permits are evaluated and issued.
In order to protect the ecological integrity of tributary systems and watersheds throughout New York State and the Great Lakes Basin, Riverkeeper insists on full compliance with the Great Lakes Compact regarding large scale withdrawals from the Great Lakes Basin, including surface waters, tributaries and groundwater aquifers.
4. RECLAMATION & MITIGATION
Riverkeeper supports an industry fee structure that would allow DEC to increase its staffing capacity in direct association with the increased demand for permit review, processing, approvals, monitoring and enforcement.
Riverkeeper supports the New York State Comptroller’s draft program bill that would seek to “remediate contamination and establish an industry-supported fund to recover damages caused by accidents related to natural gas production.”
Further information:
Jill Spisiak Jedlicka
Director of Ecological Programs
jedlicka@bnriverkeeper.org
716.852.7483 x21
