Potential Future Gas Drilling Effects in NY

This also effects other states where the damage has already polluted ground water, damaged landscapes and turned natural areas into a stomping ground. Be prepaired for the changes in
our habitat that will begin to threaten our lives as much as wildlife, and plant species.
Soon to be coming...to a town near you..

Tompkins Legislative Committee Advised on Potential Future Gas Drilling Effects
Members of the Legislature’s Public Safety Committee were told today
that local natural gas drilling in the Marcellus shale will likely
produce more above-ground emergency incidents—many stemming from human
error—and social effects arising from an influx of drilling workers.

Dr. Theodore Them, MD, Chairman of Occupational Medicine at the Guthrie
Health Care System in Sayre, PA, also holds Masters degrees in Science
and Public Health and a PhD. In an hour-long presentation to the
committee, he spoke not only from his background in occupational
medicine, but also from many years of experience as a geologist, who is
familiar with drilling operations throughout the country and with
Marcellus hydraulic fracturing operations during the past decade in
nearby Pennsylvania. Public Safety chair Nathan Shinagawa invited Dr.
Them to advise the committee on public safety and emergency
preparedness issues related to drilling in the Marcellus shale.

The gas drilling, Dr. Them said, boils down to a matter of risk versus
benefit. With the highly concentrated natural gas supply in the
Marcellus shale, he cautioned that too much political pressure exists
for the gas not to be extracted: “The question is not ‘if’, it’s
‘when’,” he said, “…the trick is getting it out safely.” While much
focus has been on chemical hazards, the doctor suggested that “most
problems will be above ground”—related to aspects including
transportation, deliveries, and dilution of substances. And he
predicted that most hazards “are going to be people, rather than
chemicals” related to human error, since “mistakes kill.” He advised
that the drilling will produce “what you have now, but a lot more of
it”—more people, traffic, movement, trucks, and accidents.

Based on his experience in other locations, Dr. Them advised that an
influx of new workers will create social issues such as increased
crime, drug and alcohol problems, traffic, housing shortages, school
overcrowding, poaching, and the related effects to an infusion of new
money to landowners, including an increased number of scam artists. Of
the workers who will come in to drill the gas, Them said, “These are
hardened, tough, heavy-duty people who are used to a hard life,” with
“enough bad apples to create a problem.”

Danby Town Supervisor Ric Dietrich, who has been involved in the
Tompkins County Council of Governments’ efforts to assess potential
effects Marcellus drilling would have on the area and its local
governments, expressed concern that there is much for local responders
to do to prepare within a relatively short time.

County Director of Emergency Response Lee Shurtleff stressed that the
area’s emergency responders are committed and well prepared to protect
their communities, and to handle a full range of challenges, and will
continue to train and prepare to handle the potential increased volume
of events that drilling could eventually produce.

Contact: Nathan Shinagawa, Chair, Public Safety Committee, 280-7557.

- END -

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Marcia E. Lynch
Public Information Officer
Tompkins County
125 E. Court Street
Ithaca, NY 14850
Tel: 607-274-5555/ Fax: 607-274-5558

What is Hydrofracturing and how is it used.
http://www.hydrofracturing.net/

The Marcellus Project in NY and PA
http://nywellwatch.org/what-is-the-marcellus-shale/

http://www.ithaca.edu/naturallands/fracking/

What it really is in the natural gas industry
http://nywellwatch.org/2009/11/27/what-is-hydrofracturing/

Problems in other States
http://shaleblog.com/category/hydrofracturing/

http://www.baski.com/WWDR_AskHank_Hydrofracturing.pdf



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