Public Comment on Draft SGEIS Ends on Wednesday January 11, 2012

The draft SGEIS (Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement), released in September 2011, will form the basis for New York State DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) to issue permits to allow horizontal hydraulic fracturing of shale gas drillling in New York State. In less than 10 days the public comment period on the draft SGEIS will end. After that, fracking can start in New York State as soon as the DEC issues a final SGEIS.

But before the DEC can do that, it is required to review and address all the public comments it receives. Therefore, we must flood the DEC with comments and make DEC take time to read and address all the comments.

Please submit your written comments to DEC today. For your reference, here's a sample letter:

January 2, 2012

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

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen:
Despite the growing body of evidence indicating that hydraulic fracturing gas drilling carry grave risks to public health, the revised draft SGEIS (September 2011) contains no public health analysis.

People living near compressor stations and well-pads have experienced unusual levels of asthma and other respiratory illnesses. Moreover, scientists have found pockets of unusual cancers in areas in which intensive drilling and fracking have taken place. The lack of a full public health analysis in the draft SGEIS is totally unacceptable. New Yorkers deserve to be informed of, and protected from, the health risks associated with hydraulic fracturing.

The current Revised Draft SGEIS should be withdrawn and any consideration for issuing regulations and permits for shale gas drilling must be put on hold until a comprehensive public health impact analysis of fracking be conducted and completed by an independent and creditable entity such as a school of public health not backed by the oil and gas industry.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]
[Your Address]

CC: The Honorable Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224

We are very lucky on the Upper West Side - ALL  of our elected officials - State Senators Adriano Espaillat, Tom Duane, and Bill Perkins, State Assembly members Linda Rosenthal, Danny O'Donnell, Dick Gottfried - City Council member Gale Brewer, Borough President Scott Stringer, Congressman JerroldNadler - OPPOSE FRACKING  in NYS.

You can send one or more letters to DEC commenting on multiple flaws found in the draft SGEIS. For online help writing comments, you may wish to click http://go.madmimi.com/redirects/f261aa133167aab2d8fd0e3b7cbf19fb?pa=7011303969  for the DEC SGEIS Comment Action Center on the United for Action website. In that section you will also find a list of sources published by a coalition of organizations to help you write comments on the SGEIS.

Written comments will be accepted by DEC if received by DEC or postmarked by January 11, 2012 by two methods only. Written letter mailed to DEC or electronic submission using a web-based comment form available on DEC's website which we've been told is not that user friendly. Comments that are faxed, telephoned, or emailed to the DEC will not be accepted for the official record.

Thank you very much for taking action. Please ask as many people as you can to write comments to DEC. Let's do whatever we can to hold off fracking in New York State.

All the best,
The United for Action Team

 You can also go to Coalition's No Hydro-Fracking page for more information.