Flooding and Fracking – A Dangerous Combination

The Catskills has experienced unprecedented flooding in the last five years and it is expected that major flooding caused by the current cycle of global climate change will continue.  This could lead to catastrophe if flooding occurred and the toxic chemicals and radioactivity from fracking materials escaped into the general water supply.

As of September 2011, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) proposes to ban well pad development in 100-year floodplains, but there’s a critical catch. The DEC is seemingly still allowing holding ponds and other fracking infrastructure to be located in floodplains.  They acknowledge that their flood maps are out of date.  They admit that these maps have been unreliable in the past and revised floodplain maps will not be updated until late 2012 after permitting is proposed to begin.

New York State Assembly Energy Committee Chair Kevin Cahill said in September 2011 that parts of the Catskill Mountains alone have had five catastrophic flooding events in the past three years, evidence, he says, that weather patterns are changing. 
“We know from the past several weeks that the definition of floodplains as we know them from our maps is antiquated,” said Cahill. “We need to re- map our floodplains.”

The danger of the toxins from fracking wastewater getting into our water supply from floodwaters is especially acute.  The wastewater from fracking not only contains the toxic and hazardous chemicals used in fracking fluid but also contains contaminants that it picks up from deep within the earth, most notably salty brine and radioactive materials.  The documented health consequences of exposure to these toxins includes increased rates of asthma, infertility, ADHD, autism, diabetes, thyroid disorders, brain disorders and many types of cancer.

There are several ways that flooding could impact and compound the problems of fracking.

Floodwaters could overwhelm drill sites and holding ponds and carry fracking waste into streams that eventually end up in the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers.

Flooded river systems could force waters to flow back into treatment plants resulting in untreated wastewater being dumped into rivers.  Overweight trucks that carry hazardous fracking chemicals could further damage already flooded roads, increasing accidents.The potential for well sites, drilling infrastructure and holding ponds to flood is an unacceptable risk which is one more reason why based on extensive study and scientific evidence, Catskill Mountainkeeper has called for a ban on fracking.  We are also working within the existing regulatory process in New York to raise critical issues, widen the discussion of the impacts of drilling, and expand the options available to protect the public.