CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

White Plains, NY - The Board of Legislators has made official its opposition to proposed natural gas drilling projects in the Catskill Delaware region of the Marcellus Shale rock formation.

A resolution approved unanimously, sponsored by Peter Harckham (D – Katonah), urges Governor Paterson and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) to ban hydrofracking – or drilling, for natural gas within the areas of the Shale that coincide with the Catskill and Delaware watersheds, where New York City and Westchester get 80 - 90% of their drinking water. Legislators are also asking that a moratorium be placed on hydrofracking throughout the state pending further comprehensive and independent review of the technology, which involves the use of chemicals that can infiltrate source and groundwater, and pose other environmental and public health hazards.

“There are just too many unanswered questions about the safety of this technology, the chemicals used in the process, the amounts of water used and contaminated, as well as other risks to the environment,” said Harckham, who chairs the Board’s Energy & Environment Committee.

"The technology behind hydrofracking is imperfect at best,” echoed committee member Legislator John G. Testa (R – Peekskill). “Moreover, the injection of toxic chemicals and the environmental damage they could cause is too great to allow its use in New York.”

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