QUESTIONS YOU NEED TO ASK ABOUT HYDROFRACKING IN OUR FINGER LAKES
prepared by Steve Coffman for Committee to Preserve the Finger Lakes
1. What will hydrofracking mean for property values in our region?
Initially, the value of unleased acreage may go up, as Gas Fever rises and outside speculators treat our lands like a crap-shoot.
However, the value of lake properties will drop as water worries and industrial development proliferate, and as our region’s reputation for clean air, rural lifestyle and natural beauty diminishes.
The reluctance of banks and insurance companies to back mortgages on land leased for hydrofracking and properties near such leased land is an unmistakable sign of the instability of value expected by the lending industry.
2. What proof is there that hydrofracking will affect our water?
DEC predicts an average 27,500 gallons of chemicals will be used for each hydrofracked well, and each square-mile pad will average 8 wells---an average of 220,000 gallons of chemical additives per pad. The vast majority of these chemicals are toxic to both humans and aquatic environments. Leaks, spills and accidents are inevitable. Floods, earthquakes, fires, well breaches, and uncertain geological containment all increase the risk of contamination.
Despite industry disclaimers, everywhere hydrofracking has taken place, local wells, lakes and rivers have suffered in quality, often sufficient to damage land, livestock and humans.
3. Is most fracking waste-water purified before being returned to our rivers and lakes?
No. Most fracking waste-water (average 22 million gallons per pad) is many times saltier than ocean water and should be desalinated before reuse, but seldom is. Most wastewater chemicals are never removed, only diluted before being returned to local waters---leaving toxins to accumulate---inevitably degrading waters beyond beneficial use. For prime examples of the “dilution solution,” see Onondaga Lake, Hudson River and Love Canal.
Fracking waste-water should be treated as hazardous waste---and would be, if not for the “hazardous waste exemption” given specially to the Gas & Oil industry.
4. How will hydrofracking affect local farming?
Gas leases may help some farmers out of immediate financial straits, but will be detrimental to area farming. Degraded air and water will affect certain lands and livestock. Water will be less reliable. The reputation of local products will suffer. Growth of organic farming will decline. Land values will fall and bank credit will diminish. More farmland will be abandoned or taken for industrial use, and the community of farmers will be hydro-fractured as much as the land.
5. How much stress will increased traffic put on our roads and bridges?
NYS DEC estimates that each 8 well pad will require 5000-8900 truckloads of materials and water. Presumably those trucks will be going back again. And that doesn’t count all white pickups and cars with Texas and Oklahoma plates. Maybe the better question is “How much stress will all that fracking traffic put on us?”
Source: NYDEC [dSGEIS (6.13.1) -- truck traffic for a single pad with eight wells]
6. How will hydrofracking affect tourism?
High-volume gas drilling and tourism are like oil and water---they do not mix. The Finger Lakes will be on no “Delightful Vacation” lists. Our famous beauty will be pock-marked by drilling pads. Our peaceful rural roads will be jammed with heavy trucks, the sounds of songbirds, geese and peepers competing with 24/7 traffic, drilling rigs and compressor stations. Noise, pollution and traffic is what tourists come here to escape. The Wine Trail and craft markets will be badly hurt.
Tourists do not just come here to buy wine and crafts. They come for our delightfully slow-pace, fresh air, starry nights, wonderful waters and seamless rural beauty. While here, they buy wine and gifts to mark their sweet memories. If your family was going to vacation in Texas, Louisiana or Colorado, would you choose ranches, bayous and mountains---or shale gas industrial zones?
7. How will hydrofracking affect the Mennonite community?
Some Mennonite landowners might temporarily benefit from gas leases, but what will be the larger effects of gas industrialization? How compatible will buggies and bicycles be with the incessant traffic of transient gas industry truckers who know little about sharing the roads, and care even less about the Mennonite life style?
Imagine our region’s loss if the Mennonite community pulled up stakes and moved elsewhere? What would happen to our revitalized farming community? To rural land values? How much would we miss their specialized markets, construction and fine craft skills?
8. What kind of region do we want to live in?
That’s the question that we all have to answer for ourselves, or let outsiders answer it for us.
