Who Will Be Heard In New York’s Hydrofracking Hearings?

If public consultation is to be meaningful, we need expert views, not lobbyists’ millions, to rule New York’s decision on fracking

In New York state, where I live, emotions are running hot. We are holding public comment hearings to find out whether the regulations proposed to oversee the relatively new and extreme form of fossil fuel extraction called hydrofracking would meet the expectations of our citizens. The hearings are meant to give the people whose lives will be affected by this type of extraction a place to voice their concerns and fears. This all seems sensible. Actually, it is quite democratic in concept, unless, of course, emotions and not facts rule the day.

Today, we stand in the warm glow of watching people waking up to the understanding that very few of the safeguards, regulatory agencies, politicians and democratic processes that have been put into place to protect us are actually still doing that. I say “warm glow” because there are actual signs that 99% of the people who have been let down by these safeguards are coming back to life and their hearts are beginning to beat again with the promise of something new.

In New York state, we have seen record numbers of people commenting on whether we should begin to drill for natural gas in our state. We have people engaging and even willing to use their bodies to stop this from moving forward. We have the dismal example of Pennsylvania and its thousands of well contaminations and regulatory infractions to let us into a glimpse of what is in store for New York state. There are homes exploding from methane gas migration; there are animals mysteriously dying; people becoming mysteriously ill; and whole rivers and streams with every form of life in them dead.

Entire neighborhoods are engaged in class action lawsuits against drilling companies. One beloved river is now bubbling methane from a gas well that runs directly under it.

The gas industry responds with widespread denial every time a person’s health, water or quality of life is disrupted from this mass industrialisation. It would be one thing if every time there was a problem, these “good neighbors” would actually do the right thing, accept responsibility for their transgressions and right them. But that has, sadly, not been the case.

One of their favorite mottos goes: “Hey, if you want energy, there are going to be problems, but the benefits outweigh the costs” – unless, of course, it is your well that is fouled, or your animals that die, or your children that become sick, or your property value that plummets, or your ability to get a mortgage on your home that is denied. Then the costs far outweigh the benefits.

If you own a lot of property and stand to make a good deal of money leasing it, or are someone who works for the gas industry and doesn’t live near the drilling (most workers are brought in from out of state), you are for drilling. Everyone else seems to be pretty much against it. Unless, that is, you are a politician who has a lot of lobbyists come and visit your office.

As of the beginning of this year, the gas industry has dumped $3.2m on our state capital (Albany). That is a $3.15m jump from the level of lobbying spend before we thought of drilling in this state; $150,000 of that went directly into our governor’s campaign chest.

What does that kind of money buy? There is a lot of talk from our state leaders to let the science and facts rule the day, rather than emotion and fear. Yet, there are two things missing from our proposed regulations and the “blue ribbon panel” our governor has put together to help guide us in all things drilling: scientists and health professionals are the missing ingredient.

There has been no long-term environmental impact study done on horizontal hydrofracking and no long-term health impact study done. Most of the comments that our state will be hearing in the next few days will be based only on science – and a demand for these two strands of advice to be included in all decision-making for regulations.

Will they listen? That would depend on whether or not the emotion of selfishness, or love of money, gets in the way. We will see.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/nov/30/new-york-hydrofracking-hearings-mark-ruffalo