11\/27\/2011<\/p>\n
Greetings Governor Cuomo,<\/p>\n
My name is Michael Varley.\u00a0 I\u2019m a Long Island-born, upstate-educated, Brooklyn-residing New Yorker, writing to you with concern about the gas extraction process known as hydrofracking.\u00a0 Many guesses have been made at your intentions behind supporting this controversial drilling method, but I\u2019m not looking to add to the stack of speculations.\u00a0 I\u2019ll take it as a given that you are a practical leader with the best interests of our state in mind \u2013 chief among those interests being attracting corporate investment and employment of our citizens.<\/p>\n
Between news stories, demonstrators and letters from constituents, I\u2019m sure you\u2019re aware of the many apprehensions regarding hydrofracking and its potential impact on water quality, the environment, traffic congestion, and so on.\u00a0 Your exposure to these arguments I will also take as a given \u2013 not to trivialize their merits by any means, but to conserve our time in favor of different discussion.\u00a0 Rather than drive home the negative, I wish to explore with you briefly the two touted positives of fracking New York State\u2019s chunk of the Marcellus Shale: job creation and promises of energy independence.\u00a0 Upon personal investigation into these areas, I have grave doubts about the strength of these claims.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
First, we have jobs.\u00a0 Job creation is cited by hydrofracking boosters as one of the prime draws to the process.\u00a0 In the Department of Environmental Conservation\u2019s study on the subject, job creation figures range from a low-end estimate of 13,500 jobs to an average estimate of 54,000 jobs.\u00a0 Of this average estimate, 25,000 jobs would be directly attributed to the gas companies and 29,000 would be indirect employment jobs.\u00a0 This job growth projection would amount to .7 percent of the current New York work force.<\/p>\n
Our neighbors to the south in Pennsylvania have been in the fracking business for several years now.\u00a0 A report done by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry identified 6 \u201ccore\u201d and 21 \u201cancillary\u201d industries related to fracking the Marcellus Shale.\u00a0 In these industries, 48,000 new hires were reported from 4th<\/sup> quarter 2009 through 1st<\/sup> quarter 2011.\u00a0 While championed by gas companies, \u201cnew hires\u201d is a misleading statistic.\u00a0 The number of new hires remains the same even if, in the same span of time, large numbers of jobs are eliminated by other employers, say, for instance, if a local well has passed its peak employment needs.\u00a0 In this instance, new hires may be less a sign of employment growth than employment shuffling.<\/p>\n The same report puts employment growth in these identified \u201ccore\u201d and \u201cancillary\u201d industries at 10,600 from 1st<\/sup> quarter 2008 to 3rd<\/sup> quarter 2010, or a little more than .15% of the total New York work force.\u00a0 However, the report is quick to point out that \u201cWhile the vast majority of Marcellus Shale employment can be found in these industries, not all establishments in these industries are involved in Marcellus Shale.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, you might live in Flushing Meadows, but that doesn\u2019t necessarily make you a Mets fan.<\/p>\n Another question to consider is how long do these jobs last?\u00a0 Most hydrofracking companies state that shale gas wells have a 30-40 year production life, but preliminary studies from Texas suggest otherwise.\u00a0 The average commercial life of a well in the Barnett Shale formation is 7.5 years, with the most common commercial life being 4 years.\u00a0 Some wells reach 8-12 years of production, but few eclipse even half of the industry\u2019s estimate at fifteen years.<\/p>\n All this shuffling employment and short-lived commercial viability is a recipe for boomtowns, and indeed the effects are already being seen in Pennsylvania.\u00a0 In Bradford County, the state\u2019s most heavily mined county, DUI arrests are on a pace to rise 40 percent in 2011 after rising 60 percent the year before.\u00a0 Sentences for criminal offences were also up 35 percent in 2010.\u00a0 The influx of migrant workers, mostly single men from states more experienced in gas drilling, equates to an anonymity that makes them feel above the law and spending habits focused on entertainment rather than services that build community.<\/p>\n In contrast, Governor, consider the jobs we already have in the Southern Tier potentially threatened by hydrofracking.\u00a0 The Finger Lakes region, home to 7 percent of the world\u2019s fresh water, accounts for 25,000 tourism and scenic beauty jobs and 500 million dollars of income.\u00a0 Agriculture and food processing accounts for 19,000 jobs and another 700 million in income.\u00a0 All of these are stable jobs, easily accessible to locals and designed to keep the generated income in-state and in-community.\u00a0 It is unlikely that hydrofracking will cause a loss of more than a handful of these jobs in the immediate term, but ask yourself this: It will only take one newsworthy contamination incident to destroy both industries forever.\u00a0 Is this constant, looming threat worth a .15% decrease in New York\u2019s unemployment?<\/p>\n \n Second, we have the promise of energy independence.\u00a0 As you may know, estimates for the amount of natural gas trapped inside Marcellus Shale vary significantly.\u00a0 Geologists Gash Lash and Terry Englander estimate Marcellus Shale may contain as much as 489 trillion cubic feet, or TCF, of natural gas.\u00a0 The Potential Gas Committee, a non-profit, volunteer coalition of academics and gas industry experts, estimates the Appalachian Basin \u2013 which includes Marcellus Shale \u2013 contains 227 trillion cubic feet.\u00a0 A recent U.S. Geological Survey put the Marcellus number at 84 trillion cubic feet.\u00a0 In our state\u2019s Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, or SGEIS, the number quoted was the Lash\/Englander estimate of 489 trillion.<\/p>\n Of course, not all of this is recoverable.\u00a0 Using the fracking methods practiced at the Barnett Shale shelf in Texas, about ten percent of that could be recovered, or a bit under 50 million TCF.\u00a0 The end result is enough natural gas to fill all U.S. gas needs for two years.<\/p>\n Do you know where most of our natural gas comes from?\u00a0 I suspect you do, but many people I talk to are surprised at the statistics.\u00a0 In fact, about 85 percent of it is produced domestically, in states like Texas and Louisiana.\u00a0 Of the other fifteen percent that\u2019s imported, 95 percent of it comes from Canada \u2013 or as New Yorkers affectionately know it, the place you go to have fun between the ages of 18 and 21.\u00a0 There is a demand for liquefied natural gas brought here via ocean tanker, but it remains less than one TCF and comes from countries like Australia, Indonesia, and Trinidad and Tobego.<\/p>\n I say all this in order to pose you the following question: what system are we emancipating ourselves from by pursuing natural gas drilling?\u00a0 Natural gas already enjoys the status of cheapest fossil fuel available (save coal), and there\u2019s no danger of surprise supply cut-off due to political instability or far-flung natural disaster.\u00a0 Furthermore, natural gas and oil are not interchangeable.\u00a0 Natural gas is used for heating and industrial activity, oil primarily for transportation.\u00a0 To switch our transportation preference from petroleum to natural gas would require a level of effort equivalent to nation building, not even entertained in these strange political times.<\/p>\n Paradoxically, Governor, perhaps what we should be looking out for is our natural gas being taken from us.\u00a0 Our neighbors to the north are already experiencing this problem.\u00a0 Rapid expansion of hydrofracking in Canada over the past decade has flooded the markets with natural gas, driving prices down.\u00a0 Gas companies, of course, would prefer to have prices higher, and to do that you need to shorten supply.\u00a0 A recent agreement between Canada\u2019s National Energy Board and the gas companies allows for gas exportation to Asia, even as projections from export proponents<\/em> suggest Canadian demand for gas will outstrip supply in less than 25 years.<\/p>\n The exportation approval process is already underway in the Gulf Coast, where three gas companies \u2013 Southern Union Co., Cheniere Energy and Freeport LNG Development \u2013 have filed papers with the Department of Energy to export Liquid Natural Gas from ports around the Gulf.\u00a0 One company, Cheniere Energy, received the go ahead in May to export gas out of its Sabine Pass port in Louisiana.<\/p>\n Observation shows us Marcellus will likely follow precedent.\u00a0 Natural gas will flood an already cheap market and companies will look to export it out from ports like the one owned by Dominion Resources Inc. in Cove Point, Maryland, presently a site for gas imports that has ground to a halt in the wake of recent shale gas extraction.\u00a0 As of October 4th<\/sup> of this year, Dominion has submitted papers to the Department of Energy to convert their port to an export station.\u00a0 The infrastructure is there; all that\u2019s needed is the approval.<\/p>\n Finally, Governor, for those who might hold out hope that the gas companies would stick true to their claims of promoting New York or U.S. energy independence, consider simply the companies buying interests in the Marcellus Shale business and their countries of origin:<\/p>\n \n –BG Group and BP (UK)<\/p>\n –Total and Schlumberger (France)<\/p>\n –Mitsui & Co. and Sumitomo (Japan)<\/p>\n –Statoil Hydro and Nornew (Norway)<\/p>\n –Epsilon, Talisman, Range, EnCana and Gastem (Canada)<\/p>\n –Royal Dutch Shell, Petrochina and Hopu (China)<\/p>\n –KNOC (Korea)<\/p>\n –ONGC and Reliance (India)<\/p>\n –Temasek Holdings (Singapore)<\/p>\n –ENI (Italy)<\/p>\n –Halliburton (United Arab Emirates)<\/p>\n –Petsec (Australia)<\/p>\n \n I\u2019m no xenophobe by any means, but why any of these companies would have an interest in US energy independence is beyond me.<\/p>\n \n So with all this said, what are my thoughts on the impending deadline for permit issuing?\u00a0 I believe it should be postponed until the EPA releases its official study on hydrofracking in 2014.\u00a0 Failing this, I would settle for a one-year moratorium on drilling, allowing local governments time to get their road use and zoning laws in line with the will of their citizens.<\/p>\n Governor, I\u2019m a regular follower of politics, and I can see the rare alignment of opportunity presented before you.\u00a0 Here is a chance to bring job prospects to a sagging economic area and an influx of new revenue to a cash-strapped state.\u00a0 The project would undoubtedly be a feather in your cap, granting you credentials in both economic growth and energy policy should you ever entertain thoughts of entering politics at the national level.<\/p>\n My modest request to you would be this: consider the facts and not the spin.\u00a0 Heinous acts against the environment aside, not even the positives of hydrofracking hold up well when illuminated by statistics.\u00a0 It makes for great talking points and it never hurts to have friends in gas, but the brass tacks gains don\u2019t measure out to the potential tolls, emotional and physical, on our great state.<\/p>\n In my mind, the mark of a great leader is one who aspires to creation but values foremost preservation.\u00a0 I hope you\u2019ll continue to search out ways New York can lead as innovators, and pray you\u2019ll foster the qualities that make us unique in the nation.<\/p>\n I thank you for your time and consideration.<\/p>\n \n With Regards,<\/p>\n \n Michael Varley<\/p>\n \n References:<\/span><\/p>\n Job Creation<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n DEC employment numbers:<\/span><\/span> Pennsylvania Dept of Labor and Ind numbers:<\/span><\/span> Finger Lakes Employment numbers:<\/span><\/span> Barnett Shale Life expectancy:<\/span><\/span> Bradford County Crime Reports:<\/span><\/span> Energy Independence<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Gary Lash\/\/Terry Englander Estimate:<\/span><\/span> Potential Gas Committee Estimate:<\/span><\/span> USGS Estimate:<\/span><\/span> Ten percent recovery and two years of gas:<\/span><\/span> Where our gas comes from:<\/span><\/span> Canada’s exportation problem:<\/span><\/span> Export activity in US:<\/span><\/span> List of invested foreign Companies:<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span>http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/DECEmpl<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n
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