PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release:                              Contact:

Friday, April 23, 2010                                       Paul Ertelt, (518) 449-3870

                                                                      or Neil Woodworth,

                                                                      (518) 669-0128

 

DEC Decision Will Protect Catskills; NYC, Syracuse Water Supplies

 

ALBANY, N.Y. – The Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) today applauded Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis for his decision to exempt the New York City and Syracuse watershed areas from a pending generic environmental review process for natural gas drilling using high-volume hydraulic fracturing. This means any drilling operations in these areas will be subject to case-by-case environmental reviews, ensuring greater environmental safeguards.

“This is a huge victory for the environment and all New Yorkers,” said Neil Woodworth, executive director of the Adirondack Mountain Club. “This decision will not only help protect two of New York’s great natural treasures, the Catskills and the Finger Lakes, it will also protect the drinking water supplies for roughly half of all New Yorkers. This decision could also save New York City residents billions of dollars.”

For decades, the Adirondack Mountain Club has been one of the leading advocates for the protection of New York’s natural areas. More recently, ADK has lobbied to protect the state’s sensitive natural areas, including the Catskill Mountains, the Finger Lakes Trail and Allegany State Park, from potential impacts of gas exploration in the Marcellus shale formation.

Concerns about the potential dangers of hydrofracking were heightened earlier this month when Pennsylvania environmental regulators shut down Cabot Oil & Gas Corp.’s drilling operations in that state over the company’s failed to plug three natural gas wells believed to have contaminated the drinking water supplies of 14 homes. Residents of Dimock, Pa., say their wells have been polluted by methane gas and other contaminants.

Both New York City and Syracuse get their drinking water from unfiltered surface sources that are subject to a federal waiver known as Filtration Avoidance Determination (FADs), which can be revoked if federal officials determine the water quality is not adequately protected. If either city loses its FAD, it would be required to build a water filtration plant. New York City officials have estimated that construction of a filtration plant for the Catskill/Delaware watershed would costs as much as $10 billion, not including annual maintenance costs.

The Adirondack Mountain Club, founded in 1922, is a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to protecting the New York State Forest Preserve and other wild lands and waters through conservation and advocacy, environmental education and responsible recreation. ADK has 28,000 members and 25 chapters across New York and northern New Jersey, including chapters in New York City, Syracuse, Albany and the Hudson Valley.