Drilling for Gas in the NYC Watershed?

How about no? NRDC has the following information on their website regarding this plan to drill for Natural Gas in the watershed that provides NYC with one of its most valuable treasures. The NYT has had many articles of late concerning the number of communities in the country where citizens are drinking toxic water. As one states "More than 20 percent of the nation’s water treatment systems have violated key provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act over the last five years, according to a New York Times analysis of federal data." We can still avoid this here, but it's amazing how quickly greasy palms could sell out our most valuable resource. Learn more and take action here.

New Yorkers enjoy some of the cleanest drinking water in the country, but proposed industrial gas drilling could threaten the state's natural resources and the health of its citizens. In October, the Department of Environmental Conservation released a draft report intended to evaluate the potential risks associated with extracting natural gas from the Marcellus Shale, which lies under much of New York's southern tier and the Catskills, including most of the New York City watershed.

The state's draft report, however, contains many critical flaws. Some of the most egregious omissions in the report include the failure to properly consider the potential cumulative harm to water quality, air quality and other natural resources, the failure to consider alternative plans that would pose fewer risks to New Yorkers' health and environment, and the failure to provide any meaningful plan for treating and disposing of millions of gallons of wastewater contaminated with chemicals, heavy metals and even high levels of radioactivity. In addition, the draft plan would not prohibit drilling in fragile ecological areas, including the watersheds that collectively provide clean, unfiltered water to more than 15 million New Yorkers and millions more downstream.

Although the Department of Environmental Conservation is currently accepting comments on the draft report, this version should be abandoned in favor of a completely new one that would ensure a sustainable future for our state's water bodies and other ecological resources.

Comment from LoveCanal2020...
If anyone would like to sign the petition to withdraw the DEC SGEIS report on gas drilling they can find a petition and letter to send to Governor Paterson here:
http://www.toxicstargeting.com/MarcellusShale/coalition_letter/sign