Critical step forward

On Tuesday, August 3, the state Senate approved an 11-month moratorium on new gas drilling by a decisive 48-9 vote.  This temporary measure would be a crucial step toward the permanent protection that New York’s drinking water deserves.  We are calling on the Assembly and Governor Paterson to approve it without delay.

Want to do more?  Tell your state Representative to pass the moratorium. Click here to take action. 

Will our state officials stop toxics on tap?

Next door in Pennsylvania, gas drilling is booming—and we’re already seeing the dangerous effects.  In September, 8,000 gallons of toxic fluid spilled in Dimock, Penn., during a drilling procedure conducted by Halliburton and Baker Tanks.

Right now, New York officials are considering rules for oil and gas drilling in our state.  Will they allow companies like Halliburton to conduct toxic drilling near New York’s drinking water?

New Yorkers have always enjoyed some of the cleanest drinking water in the country.  But now, the oil and gas industries wants to drill in New York — right in the watershed where 9 million people get their tap water.  Gas drilling poses a huge threat to the health of our drinking water:

• Drilling fluid, which can leach into our water supply, contains toxic chemicals linked with cancer and birth defects.
  
  
• Flammable methane gas can wind up in our water, causing it to catch on fire.
  
  
• Gas drilling generates millions of gallons of contaminated wastewater—which polluted  the drinking water supply of  325,000 people in the Pittsburgh area last summer.

Perhaps that’s why companies like Halliburton lobbied to get gas drilling exempted from federal drinking water laws in 2005.