New Yorkers And NYU Students Tell Gas Industry ‘No Fracking Way’
By Caitlin MacLaren
Over one hundred protesters gathered outside the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building yesterday to send this message to the Obama Administration: “If you frack, we’ll fight back!” The activists, including NYU and New School students, want the federal governmentto deny energy companies the opportunity to use high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing, sometimes called “hydrofracking,” to extract natural gas.
So what’s the big fuss? Hydrofracking involves drilling thousands of feet below the surface, and then continuing to drill horizontally in order to fracture the shale formation. Water, sand and chemicals are used to widen the fractures, allowing the release of natural gas.
As the Times reported last weekend, the wastewater from this technique contains radioactivity at levels “far higher than the level that federal regulators say is safe for these treatment plants [that are receiving the water] to handle.” Residents of states such as Colorado and West Virginia, which have natural gas wells, have complained that gas has seeped into their underground water supplies. Activist David Braun of United for Action called the hydrofracking “horrific” and told NYU Local it is a “public health hazard.”
There is currently a moratorium on hydrofracking in New York state until July, but the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), a federal agency, may finalize natural gas development regulations by March 16. This would open the door to permits being issued for hydrofracking below the Delaware River, one of New York’s primary sources of drinking water.
Natural gas is often hailed as a cleaner alternative to coal. In fact, NYU recently completed a natural gas-fired Co-Generation plant, which the University claims is reducing the school’s greenhouse gas emissions by 5,000 tons a year. This close connection to natural gas should provide even more incentive for NYU students to get involved in the fight against hydrofracking, said sophomore Liliana Astiz.
Astiz and a coalition of NYU students, from groups such as Oxfam and Martin Luther King Scholars, attended yesterday’s rally and are working to educate other students about hydrofracking by hosting screenings of the Oscar-nominated film Gasland and creating videos of their own. “Water is a human right,” said sophomore Julian Brand. “Every student and person on the planet should care about it.”
Activist groups such as Frack Action and United for Action are asking those who do care to call the White House and ask President Obama to prevent hydrofracking permits from being issued, and to attend an upcoming rally on March 11 at 9 a.m. in front of the Army Corps of Engineers office at 26 Federal Plaza.
