ALBANY – A 1,000-plus page scientific and engineering report to Gov. Cuomo recommends lifting the ban on the controversial “hydrofracturing” procedure for extracting natural gas from an upstate area that crosses part of the New York City watershed, sources said today.
The much-anticipated report, from the state Department of Environmental Conservative (DEC,) recommends, however, that as an extra safety measure the city watershed area, from which the city draws some of its drinking water, and certain other sections of the Marcellus Shale deposit, be protected from the procedure.
The DEC report, ordered by former Gov. David Paterson before he left office late last year, is expected to be made public as soon as Friday.
Cuomo will hold off making a final decision on whether to accept its recommendations until after a 30-day public comment period is concluded.
Cuomo Administration insiders said they believed details of the report were being leaked Thursday by environmental activists at DEC, who opposed the findings.
Several environmental organizations, boosted by the popular movie “Gasland,’’ have claimed that using hydrofracturing can endanger public water supplies, in part because of potentially toxic chemicals that are sometimes used to help extract the gas.
Defenders of the process, including state agencies in Pennsylvania — where the practice is widespread – maintain that it can be done safely.
Tens of thousands of workers have been hired to work on newly drilled gas wells in Pennsylvania adjacent to the Southern Tier area of New York, which has been plagued by unemployment and poverty brought about by a declining agriculture base, high taxes, and a loss of local population.