NY Attorney General Sues Feds to Force Fracking Study

Says Feds have Shirked Legal Responsibility To Assess Impacts Of Gas Drilling

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman filed a lawsuit against the federal government today for its failure to review the environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the Delaware River Basin.

The Delaware River Basin includes a portion of the New York City watershed that provides most of the drinking water used by over nine million New York residents. The federally designated Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River (and its tributaries), is a significant recreational destination.

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman

Last December the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), a federal interstate body with legal authority to approve or disapprove activities in the basin, proposed regulations allowing natural gas extraction via drilling and fracking in the basin. DRBC estimates about 15,000 to 18,000 gas wells can be drilled in the basin.

However, the commission — with the approval of its supporting federal agencies (Army Corps, EPA, National Park Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service) —proposed the regulations without conducting an assessment of the environmental impacts of such drilling projects on the basin.

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires federal agencies to conduct a full review of actions that may cause significant environmental impacts.

In April, just one day before a blowout at a Pennsylvania natural gas drilling site caused gallons of chemical-laced water to spill over neighboring land and into a stream, Schneiderman had demanded that the federal government comply with the NEPA requirement and conduct an environmental impact review. He warned that if feds didn’t comply within a month he would take legal action to compel such a study. Since a month has passed with no response from the federal government, the attorney general filed a suit at the federal court in Brooklyn today.

“Before any decisions on drilling are made, it is our responsibility to follow the facts and understand the public health and safety effects posed by potential natural gas development,” Schneiderman said in a press statement released today.

Fracking — a process that involves injecting water, chemicals, and sand into the ground to break up rock and release trapped natural gas — poses risks to the environment and the health of communities. It involves withdrawal of large volumes of water from creeks and streams, potential contamination of drinking water supplies, waste generation, increased noise, dust and air pollution.

While the federal agencies admit that natural gas drilling in the basin could have significant environmental impacts and that there should be a study of those impacts, the DRBC’s lead agency, the US Army Corps of Engineers said last week that it, and the other member agencies, would make no commitment to running such a study.

Get the Journal in your inbox.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

You Make Our Work Possible

You Make Our Work Possible

We don’t have a paywall because, as a nonprofit publication, our mission is to inform, educate and inspire action to protect our living world. Which is why we rely on readers like you for support. If you believe in the work we do, please consider making a tax-deductible year-end donation to our Green Journalism Fund.

Donate
Get the Journal in your inbox.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

The Latest

Australian Gas Project Threatens Aboriginal Heritage

Activists worry a Scarborough gas field project could destroy petroglyphs while hurting climate goals.

Campbell Young

Bats of the Midnight Sun

Active in daylight during the Arctic summer and hibernating during the long winter nights, Alaska’s little brown bats are a unique population. Can their niche lives help them avoid white-nose syndrome?

Words Trina Moyles Images Michael Code

Land and Love in Melbourne

An Australian referendum to provide a political voice for First Peoples may have failed, but the push will continue.

Alda Balthrop-Lewis

A Canadian Corporation is Poisoning My Argentinian Community

We, the people of Jáchal, are fighting for the right to safe and clean water.

Saúl Zeballos

Climate Comedy Works. Here’s Why.

We all need some refreshing levity nowadays – especially during this politically heavy year.

Maxwell Boykoff Beth Osnes

Court Halts US Effort to Monitor Crypto Mining Energy Use

New requirement would cause 'irreparable injury' to industry amid surging electricity usage, federal judge rules.

Oliver Milman The Guardian