Welcome to the premier of Federated Conservationists of Westchester County’s (FCWC) blog. As you may know, FCWC was founded in 1965 as a not-for-profit coalition of local environmental groups to form a single, strong voice for combating pollution and preserving Westchester’s many precious natural resources. We act as a clearinghouse for information, tools and resources that allow municipalities, communities, other non-for-profits and individual citizens make informed decisions on environmental issues facing them daily.
As many of you are still drying out from the recent rains, we would like to update you on several subjects of interest and concern to FCWC, other organizations and agencies. The first topic for discussion is New York State’s plan to allow drilling for natural gas in a region known as the Marcellus Shale, a geologic formation that sits beneath Sullivan County and much of the New York City watershed. Critics of this plan, including FCWC, want new rules to address such issues as pollution from the horizontal drilling method, known as Hydrofracturing or “fracking” a process which involves pumping three to eight million gallons of water and 80 to 300 tons of chemicals into an underground well at high pressures over the course of several days. Roughly half the injected solution returns to the surface as “flowback” water containing fracturing chemicals plus naturally occurring and often very high levels of total dissolved solids, hydrocarbons, heavy metals and other toxins. We feel that in the rush to bring this gas to market, the gas companies have failed to conduct a meaningful assessment of the risks and impacts this procedure may impart on the pristine Catskill region, the unique plants and animals found there and the Catskill/Delaware reservoir system; the primary source of drinking water for Westchester and New York City. FCWC and others have proposed to ban or seriously curtail such drilling in the watershed. Stay tuned, and check back soon for the launch of our new website!
