In general, said Sweeney, the EPA’s recommendations regarding the Consent Order do not carry regulatory weight, but they will be considered by the DEC in finalizing the agreement with New York City. “We are partners with DEC in setting policy and making decisions,” stated Sweeney. “This is an issue that covers both the Clean Water Act and the lower Esopus issues, where the DEC has the main purview, plus the Filtration Avoidance Determination,” which permits New York City to maintain its water system without having to build a multibillion dollar filtration plant.
Regarding the suggested provisions, Sweeney added, “This is not a radical proposal — it’s within the realm of possibility, and we hope they will adopt it.”
Ulster’s comments
Ulster County has sent comments on in the form of two strongly worded letters and 594 pages of data on impacts to the riverbank properties due to turbid water releases as of August 23, 2011.
A letter dated July 10 and signed by County Attorney Beatrice Havranek emphasizes the failure of the Consent Order to provide for compensation to landowners along the lower Esopus who have had to spend money on repairs to docks and streambanks as a result of the water releases. Havranek cites data obtained from 150 questionnaires and 45 site visits, on which county personnel assisted DEP researchers. Yet, she writes, no report based on the data was ever released to the county. Therefore, she includes the documentation in the comments submitted as part of the consent order review process.
She also points out that the research was conducted before Hurricane Irene, so the damage documented cannot be attributed to the hurricane.
Havranek demands that a fund be set up for lower Esopus property owners, along with a system for processing and reimbursing damage claims. In her follow-up letter dated July 13, she recommends that the civil penalty specified in the Consent Order be increased from $1.5 million to no less than $10 million, to be used “to finance environmental benefit projects and damage claims of property owners, both public and private.”
Formal comments on the Consent Order were also filed by State Senators John Bonacic and James Seward, Assemblymen Peter Lopez and George Amedore, and numerous Ulster County officials, including County Legislature Chairman Terry Bernardo.
Bonacic stated, “If discolored water was being served in the taps of restaurants in Manhattan, this would be front page news in every paper in the country until the water is clear again. Instead, this has been a blip on the radar. We need the DEC to do better.”
“Now the DEC has all the data and comments,” observed Hein, “and EPA has weighed in as well — and they’re a powerful entity. It’s up to the DEC now.”
Saugerties says go back to using alum
In its comments on the Consent Order, the Village of Saugerties has demanded that New York City return to previous usage levels of alum as a treatment for turbid water, rather than continue to employ the Ashokan Release Channel as a solution, until an Environmental Impact Statement has been completed. The comments suggest that structural alternatives be considered to ensure that alum reduction, as demanded by the EPA’s revised drinking water standards, not be accomplished at an economic and environmental cost to downstream locales.
The Saugerties letter also requests that upstate entities be involved in the stream management plan provided for by the Consent Order, so that the resultant measures will benefit the community, not just the DEP.
Other demands include funding for stream gauges beyond the10 years designated by the Consent Order; funding for an updated flood analysis for the lower Esopus, taking into account a full reservoir; and flood protection via releases through the Catskill Aqueduct, rather than turbid releases into the lower Esopus.
http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2012/June/28/Pepacton_oil_clean-28Jun12.html
Fuel oil leak cleanup in Pepacton Reservoir
….divers found a four inch diameter pipe protruding through the sediment at the bottom of the reservoir. The pipe is capped….Ghost Wells? 48,000 exist in NYS…could the Desiel Fuel ozzing pipe 2500 gallons removed so far…..and another tank forun with gasoline….next to aqueduct intake…..Pay attention this may be affecting the Ashokan….36 million gallons of Desiel fuel were dumped into fracking fluids between 2005 and 2009 illegaly….being only 30 miles from the Pa Boarder where Fracking Rules the earth…NYS may be feeling the force of the fluids being shoved into the earth…they may be returning to the surface via Ghost Wells…..48,000 Ghost Wells create a two fold Hazards for NYS By Lia Marrero
Val Washington (well qualified as a prior Deputy Commissioner for the DEC and Regional Attorney for NYS DEC…) Stated at the Utica College Hydrofracking Forum Nov 9th 2011, that “The DEC has identified over 48,000 “ghost wells” in NYS, uncapped oil and gas wells from the 40’s and 50’s which are extremely difficult to locate. Another 30,000 were capped but those caps need to be redone every decade if not more frequently due to the new pressures added by HIGH VOLUME SLICKWATER HORIZONTILE HYDRAULIC FRACKTURING or “FRACKING”. The cost of this fallible preventive maintenance is now in the Billions and upward! The DEC has close ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS available for each well to assist in their capping being collected by taxing newly permitted wells… No wonder they are not being found despite the 1000 foot search for them before a new well is drilled. The cost of contamination to an aquifer…can not be estimated in merely dollars for is cannot be undone. These Abandoned Oil and Gas wells pose a very SERIOUS 2 fold hazard potential:
1) They may provide a vent for the upward migration of Toxic/ radioactive frack fluid [see “The Truth about Fracking,” by Chris Mooney] in the Nov 2011 issue of Scientific America.
2) A second potential catastrophe exists because these Ghost Wells also provide a location for criminals to dump toxic waste fluid. Report any incident to police, acting on your own could be very dangerous. Industry evades responsibility and liability by subcontracting INDEPENDENT truck drivers to transport toxic industrial Frack waste fluids.
The fact that our Government would consider permitting High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing without remediating the Ghost Well hazard potential in NYS highlights their inability to asses risk properly or protect the Environment from this physical and financial toxic asset. Example: DEP Provides Update On Pepacton Reservoir Oil Leak http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/press_releases/12-31pr.shtml “….divers found the immediate source of the leak to be a 4-inch diameter pipe that is protruding through the bottom sediment. Although capped, the pipe has several small holes which are allowing some product (believed to be diesel fuel) to escape. Additionally, a second point, approximately 12” from the pipe, on the bottom of the reservoir is showing signs of leakage. “….could this be one of 48,000 GHOST WELLS lurking in NYS which become portals for the upward migration of fracking fluids being shoved down into the earth elsewhere???? This would not be the first case nor the last now that GOV CUOMO plans to allow Horizontal Fracking in the Southern tier of NYS…where most of these GHOST WELLS LURK……Drink Diesel Gov! Bottoms Up! Between 2005 &2009 oil & gas industries “Fracked “our country using DESIEL FUEL dispite REGs NOT EXEMPTING them from doing so! 36 MILLION GALLONS were shoved illegally into our Country’s belly! Regulation has defied enforcement and Ghost Wells exist! We need not go to Fracking Hell.
http://sierraclub.typepad.com/compass/2012/05/diesel-and-drinking-water-dont-mix.html