New York DEP...Fracking Waste is NOT Medical Waste

The Medical Waste tracking Act of 1988 defines medical waste as "any solid waste that is generated in the diagnosis, treatment, or immunization of human beings or animals, in research pertaining thereto, or in the production or testing of biologicals." This definition includes, but is not limited to:

• blood-soaked bandages
• culture dishes and other glassware
• discarded surgical gloves
• discarded surgical instruments
• discarded needles used to give shots or draw blood (e.g., medical sharps)
• cultures, stocks, swabs used to inoculate cultures
• removed body organs (e.g., tonsils, appendices, limbs)
• discarded lancets

So, one might ask, "What does Medical Wastes have to do with Horizontal Hydraulic Fracturing, and the diabolical industrial practice nicknamed Fracking?"  As unbelievable as it may seem, the New York DEC plans to treat the waste water streams from fracking along the same lines as Medical Wastes are treated, rather than classifying them for what they are, "Lethal Hazardous Wastes"!  Now to understand how ridiculous it for the NY DEC to wrongfully classify and treat Fracking waste along the same lines as Medical Waste, we should look at some of the requirements the US EPA has when a waste is classified as being hazardous...keep in mind, the waste does not have to meet ALL THESE CRITERIA, but instead only has to meet ANY OF THE CRITERIA.  Any, as in ONE!

Lets start with Benzene shall we?

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classified Benzene as a Class A carcinogenic. Benzene exposure can result in the development of leukemia. Variations of leukemia have been linked to Benzene exposure, including:

• Acute myelogenous leukemia
• Acute lymphocytic leukemia
• Chronic myelogenous leukemia

Symptoms of Benzene Exposure

People that are exposed to Benzene in high levels or for long periods of time might experience the following symptoms:

• Drowsiness
• Dizziness
• Headaches
• Irregular heartbeats
• Loss of consciousness

Benzene exposure to the eyes and skin can cause tissue injury and irritation. Drinking water containing high levels of Benzene can cause:

• Stomach irritation
• Vomiting
• Convulsions
• Rapid heartbeats
• Death

Guess what folks...benzene is injected underground in hydraulic fracturing, and the extraction process also causes naturally occurring deposits of benzene to surface (Hess 1998, EPA Final 2004 4-11).  OK, lets try to understand this...Benzene is by US EPA classifications a hazardous waste.  The (un)Natural Gas industry injects Benzene into the ground to FRACK A WELL, and when the well has been fracked, even more Benzene is released.  Said Benzene gets into the environment (air, water, ground), thus opening up exposure pathways that will see humans exposed to a chemical that is a know cancer causing agent, a chemical that can cause us to lose consciousness, a chemical that CAN CAUSE DEATH...those are some serious medical concerns that all New Yorkers should be concerned with...

Light bulb moment!

So that is why the NY DEC wants to classify and treat fracking wastes as Medical Wastes...said wastes are going to cause us folks serious health issues! ...so that's the thinking?  Let's not put all the blame on the NY DEC...the US EPA seems to have blood on its own hands when it comes to being p front and honest when it comes to chemicals in fracking fluids, and the health risks they WILL PRESENT TO US HUMANS.

In a draft 2002 report, EPA reported that at the point of injection, nine hydraulic fracturing chemicals violated water quality standards (EPA Fracturing Draft 2002). This assertion was edited out before the final report was published. The published report did note that fracturing fluids are likely to remain underground and are “likely to be transported by groundwater supplies” (EPA Fracturing Final 2004).

So, the (un)Natural Gas industry does not like US EPA findings...no problem, they just get those results edited out, and that changes everything...right? As the Church Lady would say, "Isn't that SPECIAL"?  Not to be out done, wanting to get in on all the killing of human beings, Dick Cheney and our United States government jumped into the fray in 2005 solving the issue once and for all by granting the (un)Natural Gas industry an exemption from the Clean Drinking Water Act...much like the NRC does with regulations when the nuclear industry cannot meet standards, GRANT AN EXEMPTION!

In 2005, Congress exempted most hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Drinking Water Act but said the act would apply to fracturing with diesel fuel (SDWA Exemption 2005).

Meanwhile, here in our little community we are waiting for Steve Vegliante and the Fallsburg Town Board to let us know when the promised Public Informational Meeting on FRACKING is going to be held as said board considers a proposed ban on fracking for our community...with this kind of information out in the public domain, one has to wonder why the delay...PASS THE BAN!  Seriously...can we really trust the DEC to do the right thing, or is our community better off passing a ban on fracking while we still can?

Some other reasons to JUST SAY NO to FRACKING:

• Thousands of post-1980 wells are exempt from the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) that holds most industries accountable for cleaning up hazardous waste.
• Thousands of post-1980 wells were exempted from the Clean Air Act, which limits emissions of nearly 190 toxic air pollutants, including many emitted by oil and gas companies (Mall et al. 2007, Clean Air Act 2008).
• Thousands of the nearly 270,000 wells drilled in the West since 1980 are exempt from the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act of 1986. 
• The nearly 270,000 oil and natural gas wells drilled in the West since 1980 have enjoyed an exemption from the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), passed in 1976 to establish a cradle-to-grave hazardous waste management program (RCRA History). 

Are you starting to see a TREND HERE?  The (un)Natural Gas industry has been exempted from almost every rule meant to protect human health and the environment, has been exempted from almost every law that could and should hold them legally liable when they screw it all up, which they certainly will do.  Give Steve Vegliante a call, tell him the time for Fallsburg to pass a fracking ban IS NOW.

First of Four Fracking Hearings Being Held in Albany Today, as State Government Gives LIP SERVICE to Concerned Citizens

Leave no doubt about it...baring a miracle, the State of New York, its government, its elected officials HAVE SOLD US OUT to the deep financial pockets, the financial donations to campaign coiffures that the Natural Gas Industry, Chesapeake Energy, Exxon and other Hydro Fracturing earth despoilers have been doling out.

It does not matter that most citizens are not buying the propaganda campaign Exxon has been waging in our rural communities, does not matter that the majority of New Yorker's will take fresh, safe drinking water over Natural Gas being sucked out of the ground and exported to China every time, the EPA, our turncoat Governor Cuomo have decided to line their own collective and individual pockets with the same silver with which Judas lined his own at the expense of our health, our clean drinking water, and our pristine rural communities.

Today's Albany hearing is Political Kabuki Dancing at its finest, our politicians putting lipstick on the pig as they sit around looking important, listening to hand picked speakers, knowing that the rubber stamping in favor of the Natural Gas industry wishes has already begun, once again the health and safety of the states citizens being callously sacrificed on the altar of corporate greed. Safe clean drinking water, the health of our children and grandchildren nothing more than collateral damage, our lives, our health an acceptable trade off when compared to the fossil fuels that can be removed from under our lands in the name of a transitional energy source, that under a best case scenario, will only last us another 15-20 years.

Let us be clear...giving citizen stakeholders a scant 90 days to submit comments on a document that is some 1500 pages in length is woefully inadequate, the comment period being kept deliberately short in an attempt to silence our voices, deny us our opportunity to be plugged into and a part of a decision that will affect in a negative fashion every New Yorker's life.

Let us be CLEAR...scheduling just four public meetings in the entire state of New York is inadequate to give citizens a true opportunity to SPEAK THEIR MIND on this issue...those four public hearings are even more inadequate in scope when you look at how the process of those hearings works. Public Officials, Industry Spokespersons, and local community VIP's are always given the first opportunity to be heard...most of those folks ARE ALREADY BOUGHT AND OWNED by the Natural Gas Industry. The rest of us peons are shuffled to the end of the list, and most of us never get heard, the hearing board announcing, "We're sorry, but we are running out of time, we we will hear four more speakers, then the rest of you are welcome to submit your comments in writing.

If you visit the public comments submission page, you see our rights being further curtailed. We are told that our comments should be supported with scientific support...uhhh...could someone please explain to us AVERAGE CITIZENS how we are supposed to digest a 1500 page document, find scientific support for our comments, and have it all together and submitted to the DEC in just 90 days? We are average lower and middle class citizens for the most part. We have families, we have jobs, and as much as the DEC may disagree, we do have to sleep. The DEC, and every other department of government involved in the writing of this document, every member of the Natural Gas industry have the luxury of working on this document, submitting comments on it as a job, are getting paid...however, most ground zero citizens who will be forced to live with the health risks and quality of life issues from Hydraulic Fracturing do not have that luxury, cannot spend eight hours a day, five days a week study the document, understanding it, and doing the research necessary to make scientifically supported comments for or against Hydraulic Fracturing.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- The state Assembly is holding a hearing to receive public comment on the Department of Environmental Conservation's permitting guidelines for natural gas drilling in the lucrative Marcellus Shale region of southern New York.

Environmental Conservation Committee Chair Robert Sweeney and committee members will take testimony in Albany starting at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.

Among those scheduled to testify are DEC Commissioner Joe Martens and New York City Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Carter Strickland.

DEC has scheduled four public hearings on the proposed permit guidelines and regulations between Nov. 16 and Nov. 30. They'll be held in Dansville, Binghamton, Loch Sheldrake, and New York City.

I would encourage every citizen to speak their voice on this issue....start by formally requesting an extension of time to comment on the proposed permit guidelines and regulations, asking for additional public hearings in your communities. Contact the folks at Catskill Citizens, volunteer, put up signs in your yards, get bumper stickers, find out where protests are planned and attend them....we here in Sullivan County will be one of the hardest hit communities if companies like Exxon and Chesapeake Energy are allowed to use Hydraulic Fracturing to drill for natural gas they have already sold to China.

Summitting Comments on DEC's Fracking Revised Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement

Last week the New York State DEC released the complete, a d fatally flawed Revised Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on the environmental dangerous drilling technique hydraulic fracturing. Although the entire document runs to over 1,500 pages, the Cuomo Administration insists that scientists, the medical community and the general public will have only three months to read, analyze and submit written comments on a plan that will contaminate our safe drinking water supplies, endanger our public health, destroy our local economies, and put we the taxpayers on the hook for billions in environmental clean up costs.

It is imperative that the average citizens who will be negatively impacted by this large scale drilling under our lands, our homes, even our schools be heard. If you are concerned about FRACKING, now is the time to summit your questions, worries and concerns to the DEC before the deadline for comments expires. Many of us are submitting a formalized request for an extension of time to file, but Cuomo seems far more concerned with keeping his DONORS in the (un)Natural Gas Industry happy than keeping our water, health and the environment both safe and clean, which means the comment deadline will not be extended.

To submit your comments, simply write them into a letter and send to:

Attn: dSGEIS Comments
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233-6510.

Please include the name, address, and affiliation (if any) of the commenter. Paper submissions also will be accepted at the public hearings date/locations TBD.