$72 million to Chesapeake Energy Corp.
$145 million in Schlumberger Ltd.
$15 million went to Chesapeake/Cabot Oil & Gas Corp.
$30 million to Southwestern Energy Company
Hundreds of millions more were invested in Exxon and other shale drillers and energy company consolidators.

As debate rages concerning the safety of fracking and the impact of accidents, leaks, safety regulations, oversight and pay-for-play, NY’s current moratorium doesn’t seem to deter energy companies from expanding operations in the state.

NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and other federal regulators in recent months have asked for stepped up disclosure of chemicals used and new studies.

Ola Fadahunski, a spokesman for the state Comptroller’s Office said the investments are about getting a return, but Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has also advocated for safety and risk mitigation.

It remains to be seen if short-term gains on state pensions will be worth potential damage to the environment in the long term. We should really determine whether this is a safe practice or not, as investors in the process.

The Marcellus Shale, which reaches beneath the southern tier of New York and into Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia is one of the largest fossil-fuel reserves in the Western Hemisphere and could yield as much as 20 times as our natural current output of natural gas. You might think that such a large energy reserve seems too good to be true, and perhaps it is. It gets its name from a town in Western New York where there the shale formation juts out above the ground. The region’s energy richness has been known for decades. But extracting the natural gas from the pores in the shale in a way that would be cost effective and efficient has always been a problem.

Hydraulic Fracturing (mostly shortened to hydrofracking) was determined to be an efficient way of extracting the methane gas from the shale. The process is not new, it has been used in the oil industry for more than 60 years. Only in the past several years, with the rising cost of fossil fuels, has it been determined by the energy industry that the Marcellus Shale is worth hydrofracking’s high cost.

Hydrofracking removes fossil fuels from shale by pumping a pressurized cocktail of toxic liquids, diesel fuel and water, into the shale to fracture the rock, which would in turn release the fossil fuel, in this case natural gas. These fractures are then maintained after the injection by introducing materials such as sand, ceramic, or other particulates, that prevent the fractures from closing when the fluid injection is stopped. The water, diesel, and other chemicals that is left over is stored in pools, sometimes unlined, above the surface until it is hauled away for treatment or disposal.

Some landowners in the Marcellus Shale area are experiencing a modern day gold rush. Energy-industry representatives are paying princely sums, rumored to be as high as eight figures in some cases, to obtain drilling rights beneath private property.

But environmentalists are warning that hydrofracking is not only bad for the region, it can cause a catastrophe in New York as great, if not greater, than the ongoing Gulf of Mexico oil spill. They’ve presented evidence that it can provoke earthquakes and above-ground explosions, and that it can pollute our groundwater and create dry beds out of our streams, ponds, and rivers, which are used to supply resources for the hydrofracking process.

In Pennsylvania, where hydrofracking has been taking place in the Marcellus Shale, wells have been ruined, tainted with salt, benzene, and other toxic and volatile chemicals. There is evidence that these compounds have also entered into nearby streams, not only affecting fish, but nearby farms that use this water for irrigation.

The problems with hydrofracking in have been outlined in the documentary Gasland, which is currently playing on the premium cable network HBO. The most famous segment of the film shows a resident near a hydrofracking well setting his methane-infused tap water on fire in his kitchen.

Environmentalists point to evidence from hydrofracking regions in Wyoming, Colorado of people and wildlife being made sick from the process. Diseases such as rare adrenal tumors and cancers are attributed to the extremely toxic compound “2-BE” that’s used in the process. There is no list of the chemicals used in hydrofracking, but clean-up sites left in the wake of the process have shown excess levels of toxins such as hydrochloric acid, benzene, toulene, and xylene (the last three toxins are commonly found in diesel fuel).

Why is the list of chemicals used in hydrofracking kept secret? Perhaps it had to do with a conflict of interest between the Bush Administration and the energy corporations, specifically Halliburton.

In 2005, the energy industry was exempted from clean water protections by the Bush Administration. As part of Vice President Dick Cheney’s infamous and secretive “Energy Task Force” in 2001, the captains of the energy industry and the administration touted hydrofracking as the future of fossil-fuel extraction, while redacting any evidence of human health hazards caused by the process. Halliburton, the company that pioneered and continues to develop and utilize hydrofracking, benefited greatly from the Bush Administration’s deference to the energy industry. Thus, the lack of clean water provisions in regard to energy development are known as the “Halliburton Loophole.”

Vice President Cheney, if you need be reminded, was the CEO of Halliburton prior to becoming Vice President. He continued to be paid millions a year in deferred compensation from his vested financial interests in the corporation while serving in the Bush Administration.

Where does New York stand on hydrofracking? Right now, industry-supported State laws are in effect to disencumber hydrofracking in the Marcellus Shale and New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation has been busy stamping permits for drilling. But the DEC might be moving the process along too quickly: Instead of studying the environmental impacts of each individual well (which is typically needed under State law) the DEC has opted to hastily get through this process by only gauging the collective impact of the hydraulic fracturing process. Such generic evaluations are similar to the type of loose regulation used in deep water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. These evaluations can also be easily disputed by the legal departments of large energy interests. In effect, New York’s DEC has chosen to marginalize its impact as the lead regulatory agency and seems more than happy to perform a mediocre job of protecting our state’s environment.

But local governments are stepping up and taking action and there is particular concern in this region. While Rockland County is outside of the Marcellus shale, it is only a short 70 miles from its eastern boundary and our natural water systems are directly affected.

Rockland County may take action soon in calling on Governor Paterson to impose a moritorium on hydrofracking. The County Legislature’s Environmental committee has recently passed a resolution calling for this. County legislator Connie Coker, who chairs the committee is hopeful that this resolution will be passed by the full legislature after its referred to them in a meeting on July 6.

“This procedure presents many environmental, human and wildlife health concerns,” said Legislator Coker […] the prime sponsor of the resolution. “There is the potential to contaminate groundwater, the surrounding landscape and the quality of air. What happens to all that solid material that is no longer just innocent sand, but toxic waste? This resolution asks the Governor to impose a moratorium and to withdraw the flawed impact statement until the results of on-going studies are made available, studied and concluded. I believe it would be viewed as a responsible and prudent action on his part.”

Clarkstown Town Clerk, David Carlucci, who is running for State Senate in the 38th District, which includes Rockland County and parts of Orange County, is also calling for a moratorium, and says that in many respects hydrofracking is New York’s equivalent to the Gulf of Mexico’s deep water oil drilling process and must be treated with similar seriousness. A recent press release form his campaign makes some lucid points about further reviewing the hydrofracking process:

It is my belief that we do not know enough about either side of this issue to allow widespread hydro-fracking in the Marcellus Shale and the Utica Shale formations to begin. We need to thoroughly investigate and understand reports of ground water and nearby stream contamination as well as the health impact to local residents before we jump into this process, or we may end up with an environmental disaster on our hands. Such a disaster would make any economic gain offered by the gas companies seem small by comparison.

Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef, who is running against Carlucci for the open Senate seat, has worked as an environmental attorney in the past. Disappointingly, he has not issued a statement concerning the Marcellus Shale in either his capacity as the advocate for the county, nor as a possible future State Senator, which may have to make decisions about hydrofracking going forward.

There is bigger concern in New York City. It’s source of drinking water is in the Catskill watershed, some of it within the Marcellus Shale. New York is one of the few municipalities that gets its water untreated from its reserviors. Contamination of New York City’s water supply would be a man-made disaster of monumental proportions and affect the health of more than 8 million people.

Until we get some answers and perhaps some alternatives to the chemicals and processes used in hydrofracking, residents of Rockland and Orange Counties need to back resolutions to call for a moratorium of this process in New York State.

This article is based on a similar piece written for the Left of the Hudson blog.

We do have taxpayer-financed elections. They are called Senate and Assembly mailings,” said Lise Bang-Jensen, a senior policy analyst at the Manhattan Institute’s Empire Center for New York State Policy, which analyzes state payroll and legislative office expenses.

Recently, Greg Ball, a Republican State Assembly member from Putnam County who is running for the State Senate, sent out mailings—paid for by our tax dollars—to promote an April 15 Tax Day protest event where he and several other “Tea Party” candidates made campaign speeches bragging how they’ll fight for taxpayers. Just how ironic is that?
It gets  worse, it’s alleged that Ball’s mailings didn’t only go out to his constituents, those in the larger 40th Senate District (that don’t live in Ball’s 99th Assembly District) complain that they got the Tax Day Protest invitations, which also tout the Assembly member as a “real leader and reformer.” The legality of the mailings are currently being challenged by Ball’s opponent and other regional politicians. This isn’t the first time these mailing privileges have been misused, and it certainly won’t be the last.

I often like to refer to the legislature’s mailing as “incumbency insurance.” The practice is not only cynical, questionably ethical, and easily abused, it’s outrageously expensive, costing New York taxpayers $27.3 million per year. That princely sum is roughly equivalent to the cuts being proposed to our State Parks system, cuts that might close 55 park services, including the pool at Tallman State Park and the Stony Point Battlefield.

With more efficient, and much less expensive communications such as Web sites, e-mail, and text messaging available, it’s time that we do away with taypayer-funded mailings. Also, think of the good we’d be doing our environment by eliminating these mailings; imagine of the natural resources and fuel we’d save over time.

So, make it a point to take your State legislature members and candidates to task over this issue. Demand that they support doing away with outmoded, expensive, and environmentally insensitive practice. And demand that they use taxpayer dollars for the good of all New Yorkers, and not for the reelection campaigns of a few politicians.

• High Tor State Park. The pool will be closed.
• Stony Point Battlefield State Historic Site. The site will be closed.
• Tallman Mountain State Park. The pool will be closed.
• Harriman State Park. The Anthony Wayne park area will be closed and there will be reduced maintenance at group camps.

Five years ago, residents in Orangetown voted down a bond to build a municipal pool on the site of the Rockland Psychiatric Center. Unfortunately, there is now no public place in Orangetown where children can swim outdoors this summer. That is, unless some enterprising local politicians decide to do something about it. Perhaps the Town of Orangetown can convince the State to keep the pool open or rent the pool from the State. How about purchasing the pool at Tallman Mountain for a nominal amount to take it off the state’s hands? It certainly would be an inexpensive way of finally providing this town service

Also, our exceptional State Park system is a revenue and jobs generator for the State. Our parks attract out-of-state tourists and generate up to $2 billion in annual economic activity.  Every $1 of taxes spent on parks generates $5 in jobs and economic activity. So the loss of parks in Rockland county also means a loss of revenue and wealth in the region.

In addition to these sites in Rockland, many other regional parks will be affected:

• Knox Headquarters Historic Site (Orange County). The site will be closed.
• New Windsor Cantonment SHS (Orange County). The site will be closed.
• Schunnemunk State Park (Orange County). The park will be closed.
• Donald J. Trump State Park (Westchester County). The park will be closed.
• FDR (Roosevelt) State Park (Westchester County). Reduced Swimming Pool Season
• Hudson Highlands State Park (Putnam County). Arden Point Area will be closed.
• James Baird State Park (Dutchess County). Reduced Golf Course Season
• Mills Norrie State Park (Dutchess County). Reduced Golf Course Season
• Olana State Historic Site (Columbia County). Closed two days per week
• Philipse Manor Hall Historic Site (Westchester County). The site will be closed.
• Rockefeller State Park Preserve (Westchester County). The park will be closed.
• Taconic Outdoor Education Center (Putnam County). The site will be closed.
• Taconic State Park – Rudd Pond (Dutchess County). The site will be closed.
• Wonder Lake State Park (Putnam County). The park will be closed.

The Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation released the suggested list of closures and cuts for the State. The office is facing a $29 million cut in funding, which is about 16 percent of its annual budget. It’s fiscal year begins in April.

It’s understandable that partisan politics, even and especially on a local level, can be off-putting for many. Much of what passes for debate and argument in today’s politics is driven by division and personal destruction. However, perhaps the biggest reason that people are turned off by politics is because the issues and debate often seem irrelevant to them. Many people feel that political parties manipulate them because they’re often asked to make hasty choices based upon labels such as “Democrat” or “Republican.”

But the truth is, political divisions are inherent in all political discourse. In Michigan, where I was born and lived until 15 years ago, most municipalities did away with partisan elections decades ago. This, however, did not end of partisan politics in those municipalities. The void left by political parties is now filled with alliances, coalitions, and confederations that are not transparent to the typical voter. Even worse, by their very nature, voters created their own quasi-parties based on racial, ethnic, and religious lines. Without political parties, we default to creating our own political apartheid, making local politics even more off-putting, and voters become even more confused by byzantine schisms within their communities.

Needless to say, it was refreshing when I moved here and found that I could vote for individuals that I could bond with on issues that were grander than the office they sought. When I first moved here, it was good to know that then South Nyack Trustee Tish DuBow was a staunch supporter of women’s rights and that Thom Kleiner once worked advocating for consumers. It was obvious to me that these people shared my core values, and it made it easier for me to vote for them even before I got to know both of them personally.

I understand that most people don’t live their lives identifying their values as being “blue” or “red” just as most people aren’t staunchly religious or secular, pro-management or pro-union, pro-development or pro-environment; we all fall somewhere on the spectrum on many issues.

However, for the people that are politicians, I don’t believe they compromise themselves by aligning and remaining loyal to a party, whether that party be the Democratic, Republican, or Independence Party. I think they do the voters a service by defining not only how they stand on current issues, but by giving their constituents an guideline on how they will respond to matters that nobody has yet considered.

I understand, however, that many people long for a politics where we have real vigorous disagreements and debates about the issues and where party affiliation is not part of the debate. They like politicians that don’t insist on having a monopoly on what is right or wrong, and don’t demonize our political opponents and their followers.

Barack Obama has asked that politicians extend themselves beyond partisan politics by espousing a “fair minded” approach to public service. He believes in a philosophical approach to politics that understands that truth and certainty are not the same thing. It is a philosophical approach that ultimately has as its goal the pursuit of the common good. It’s politics that espouses cooperation above competition. This is how politics should work on all levels, not just the local level.

However, it is also true that President Obama has had to take up the mantle of party leadership when his “common good” politics is attacked by ideologues and hate mongers. The uncomfortable truth is that not everybody, politicians nor citizens, play by these rules and to defend the common good, a politician must often fall back on the comfortable principles and parameters of the political party.

Tilcon New York will pay $250,000 penalties and fund another $100,000 in environmental education projects to settle violations of NYS environmental laws.  The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) reached an agreement with the West Nyack, Haverstraw and Poughkeepsie operator of quarries, asphalt plants, recycling plants in the Hudson Valley to settle multiple violations.

Hudson Riverkeeper, who has investigated and reported numerous water quality violations by Tilcon to the DEC, praised the settlement. “We are very pleased to see Tilcon’s historic pollution of the Hudson fully addressed by the DEC in this agreement, and applaud the DEC for aggressively negotiating a ‘global consent decree’ that, once implemented, will contribute greatly to a cleaner Hudson River,” said Riverkeeper President Alex Matthiessen.

The agreement includes penalties for discharging cloudy insufficiently treated water into the Hackensack River and spilling aggregate materials into the Hudson. The $100,000 penalty may be suspended if Tilcon meets new requirements to operate its facilities in compliance with state environmental law.

Sources: NYS DEC, Riverkeeper

via Nyack News and Views » Tilcon Fined For Polluting Hackensack, Hudson.

Onderdonk Pond on the Pascack Brook

NOT pretty.  NOT natural.  A direct result of lots of digging.  OK, once in a while people will cause some sedimentation, BUT this is happening EVERY time there is a heavy downpour for about the last 3 or 4 years. It is not normal for an area which is already built out to experience such a dramatic amount of digging.  This is due to HUNDREDS of individual site approvals ALL of which have to pass in front of supposed environmental watchdogs on zoning boards and at the county level.

Why should you care?

1. Rockland has spent millions of your tax dollars dredging this stream.  YOU will be taxed to dredge it again.
2. Aquatic life has been impaired.  Over the last 15 years I have been living by this stream we used to have many herons, different kinds of Ducks, and even Kingfisher.  Now there are usually no birds on the water.  There used to be many Bass and Perch.  Now it is mostly Carp.  The degradation of Aquatic life has been documented by the DEC (below)
3. The Pascack Brook feeds the Hackensack River and the Meadowlands.  Our negligence is harming our neighbors downstream.
4. Of the 402 acres of Historic Wetland in the Upper Pascack Brook only 96.4 remain.

The Pascack is a protected brook according Rockland County.  Does this designation have any meaning?

This crap is defined as a pollutant by NY State, but is never accounted for as local government routinely declares “negative” environmental impact at zoning boards.  And yet, THERE IT IS- environmental impact!  This stuff kills whatever is living in the stream.  It results in increased tendency to flooding costing those downstream millions in flood damage and costing the taxpayer to pay millions to clean it up to avoid further damage.

Pascack Brook and tribs, within NYS (1501-0015) Impaired Seg
Waterbody Location Information Revised: 07/01/2008
Water Index No: NJ- 5 Drain Basin: Hackensack-Ramapo Rivers
Hydro Unit Code: 02030103/160 Str Class: C*
Waterbody Type: River Reg/County: 3/Rockland Co. (44)
Waterbody Size: 16.2 Miles Quad Map: PARK RIDGE, NJ (Q-24-3)
Seg Description: entire stream and tribs
Water Quality Problem/Issue Information (CAPS indicate MAJOR Use Impacts/Pollutants/Sources)
Use(s) Impacted Severity Problem Documentation
AQUATIC LIFE Impaired Known
RECREATION Impaired Known
Type of Pollutant(s)
Known: – - -
Suspected: SILT/SEDIMENT, UNKNOWN TOXICITY, D.O./Oxygen Demand, Nutrients
Possible: – - -
Source(s) of Pollutant(s)
Known: – - -
Suspected: URBAN/STORM RUNOFF, Industrial, Municipal
Possible: – - -
Resolution/Management Information
Issue Resolvability: 1 (Needs Verification/Study (see STATUS))
Verification Status: 2 (Problem Verified, Cause Unknown)
Lead Agency/Office: DOW/Reg3 Resolution Potential: Medium
TMDL/303d Status: 3b*
Further Details
Overview
Aquatic life and recreational uses in Pascack Brook are impaired by unspecified pollutants attributed to municipal/industrial inputs and urban/stormwater runoff.
Water Quality Sampling
A biological (macroinvertebrate) assessment of Pascack Brook in Pearl River (at West Washington Street) was conducted in 2002. Sampling results indicated moderately impacted water quality conditions. Biological communities were dominated by facultative filter-feeding caddisflies and species richness was low. Impact Source Determination indicated municipal/industrial influences were the likely source of the impacts. (DEC/DOW, BWAM/SBU, June 2005)
Section 303d Listing
Pascack Brook not is currently included on the NYS 2008 Section 303(d) List of Impaired Waters. However this updated assessment suggests it is appropriate to include this waterbody on the 2010 List. Due to the unknown nature of the specific pollutants causing the impairment, it is recommended that the listing be added to Part 3b, as a waterbody for which TMDL development is deferred pending the verification of the pollutant/cause. (DEC/DOW, BWAM/WQAS, 30
June 2008)
Segment Description

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The news and diaries posted on the Rockland Progressive Dems site are the  individual opinions of the members of the Rockland Progressive Democratic Caucus. They appear on this Web site to provide a progressive forum for Rockland County residents. While the Executive Committee of the caucus may edit some of these posts for clarity, length, and accuracy, it does not necessarily endorse the contents of each post. All members of the Rockland County Democratic Caucus are invited to share their viewpoints and comment on those viewpoints on this site.

On the occasion of the official bankruptcy of General Motors after taxpayer bailouts and reluctantly partnering with the UAW, Hall renewed his call for an increase of alternative energy, green technology and forward thinking.

Hall quotes GM’s head of Research & Development who wishes he could go back in time (wasn’t that a DeLorean?) to prevent his bosses at GM from killing their own electric baby. Many forget we had a GM plan nearby in Tarrytown that was abandoned in 1996, making the area more sleepy and hollow, indeed.

Hall, in part:

“…all this might have been avoided if technologies that GM had already created had been allowed to flourish. In 1996, GM introduced the first modern production electric car, the EV1, and followed that with the EV1 Hybrid in 1999. Both had a fuel economy equalling 60 miles per gallon. However…these projects were shelved and patents for the battery technology were sold to oil industry giant Texaco, now merged with Chevron, who have so far refused to license or share the designs.”

Hall tied GM’s woes to the healthcare crisis in the U.S., noting GM was “competing with BMW and Toyota and other companies that manufacture cars in other countries with universal health care”, citing “an uneven playing field, and we’re at a disadvantage.”

But Mr. Hall’s email modestly leaves out other recent activities, so I did a simple round-up using Google News. For example, Hall very recently introduced a bill that enables vets with any “enemy combat” duty to qualify for PTSD treatment. Currently, soldiers must procure supervisor and witness affadavits attesting to a specified traumatic event.

Last month, Hall denounced Bush’s “mistaken” war of choice in Iraq while supporting greater diplomacy and economic development in Afghanistan. Another May item details Hall’s attempt to help the Highland Falls school district, losing staff due to cuts that disproportionately affect West Point families because of the area’s unique military demographic. Hall mentioned this in a brief “stairway” pitch to the U.S. Secretary of the Army, but as it happens President Obama nominated a familiar colleague of Hall’s to replace the Secretary, in Rep. John M. McHugh (R-NY).

Hall embarked on a healthcare listening tour, meeting with local providers and professionals who said middlemen profiteers “have become monsters”. He called for a night curfew at a local airport, hosted a panel seeking to develop low-income housing and assist in preventing foreclosures using federal stimulus funds, while also advocating stimulus funding be directed towards clean water projects in the Hudson Valley.

Rep. Hall also endorsed Sonia Sotomayor for the SCOTUS and gave an early endorsement to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Lastly, Hall signed a letter to Obama’s “Car Czar” Steven Rattner, asking why profitable auto dealerships must be closed in the industry’s bankruptcy restructuring. But if this article is accurate, Citibank and JP Morgan Chase are not particpating in the misery shared by UAW workers, GM and Chrysler dealers or taxpayers, securing full cash payback thanks to Rattner improperly directing reimbursement from already paid-in retirement funds, a first that would set precedent allowing corps to raid these previously untouchable funds.

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The news and diaries posted on the Rockland Progressive Dems site are the individual opinions of the members of the Rockland Progressive Democratic Caucus. They appear on this Web site to provide a progressive forum for Rockland County residents. While the Executive Committee of the caucus may edit some of these posts for clarity, length, and accuracy, it does not necessarily endorse the contents of each post. All members of the Rockland County Democratic Caucus are invited to share their viewpoints and comment on those viewpoints on this site.