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Follow on Google News | HYDROFRACKING- risks to children and schools mapped in NYSChildren’s advocates and child health groups today called on New York State officials to broaden their assessments of the impacts of high volume hydraulic fracturing to include child health impacts and impacts on schools.
State and national children’s advocates and child health groups today called on New York State officials to broaden their assessments of the impacts of high volume hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) “What concerns us the most is the lack of an in-depth look at how children will be affected by hydrofracking,” According to New York law, an environmental impact statement must include an assessment of an action’s impacts to human health. Unfortunately, a human health assessment is not part of the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) on hydraulic fracturing. “For our families, especially our children, we need to know how potential impacts are being assessed,” Barnett added. “That is the only way to develop effective mitigation procedures.” Barnett and other press conference participants released a map indicating that over one hundred public P-12 school facilities including 51 classroom buildings are located on Marcellus Shale and use private wells for water. In addition, she noted that the words “children” Said George Dunkel, Executive Director, American Academy of Pediatrics District II, “Children are New York’s resources for the future. In addition to new nearby noises, traffic, chemical and contaminated waste storages, we are concerned about the exposure of these children, teachers and staff. We do not believe that the environmental impact studies conducted to date properly assess the potential danger. We support and join in the call on the state Health Department and State Education to engage with the Department of Environmental Conservation during the public comment period to conduct in-depth research on the impacts to children’s health posed by hydraulic fracturing.” New York State PTA President Maria Fletcher said, “New York State PTA asks its members and communities to learn about the risks of hydrofracking and to advocate with decision-makers to protect the air, land, and water -- and the children of New York.” Roger Cook, retired Director, Western New York Committee on Occupational Safety and Health and Co-Chair, United Church of Christ/Disciples of Christ of Western New York Environmental Task Force said, “We strongly agree that the state must conduct a robust health impact assessment before it can address mitigations." “The full impacts of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas on children’s health – including changes in air and water quality as well as vehicular traffic accidents – should be better studied before New York moves ahead," added Phillip Landrigan, MD, Chairman, Department of Preventive Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. “The potential short term economic benefit of increased jobs and fuel revenue needs to be weighed against the long term economic risk of potential contamination of our state’s water supply, and possible unnecessary and unintentional exposure of our state’s children to those contaminants,” Both the federal National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) and the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) require health assessments of proposed actions impacting the environment. Over the last two years, New York State agencies and the Legislature have considered the impact of high volume hydraulic fracturing. Both the state Assembly and Senate have hosted public hearings, and this fall the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) issued a revised draft EIS. Initially, hydrofracking will take place only in the Marcellus Shale region that stretches across lower New York State, from the Catskills to Lake Erie. The Utica Shale which may also be tapped underlies the Marcellus Shale and also extends from northeast of the state capitol in Albany, west to Lake Ontario, and north to the Tug Hill Plateau. Healthy Schools Network, a national not for profit founded in New York State in 1995 as an advocate for children and for healthy school environments that has won national awards for its work, undertook a preliminary study this fall to determine if and how the state took children’s environmental health vulnerabilities into account in its revised EIS, and to determine what impacts if any on P-12 public and private schools and public and private child care facilities were anticipated. Surprisingly, in the 1,537 page draft EIS, there was not a single reference to children, child care facilities, and childhood diseases like asthma, or learning disabilities. Schools are mentioned, but only as governmental units within counties. The Network’s study drew from data on public school facilities on file with the New York State Education Department; the Network did not attempt to locate data for private schools, or for public or private child care centers or Head Start facilities, which could also be at risk. -30- Healthy Schools Network Recommendations Because of the complexity and the importance of the issues, the Network recommends that New York State Department of Conservation, in concert with the Department of Health and the Education Department, conduct a robust human health impact assessment of the proposed hydrofracking in the Marcellus Shale region, including but not limited to: 1- Developing and publicizing a map of all public and private P-12 schools, and all public and private child care centers and Head Starts in the Marcellus Shale region that currently rely on private well water. 2- Assessing risks and detailing mitigations of potential threats to children where they live, learn, and play in the hydrofracking zone, including from noise, air and water pollution, traffic hazards, chemical mismanagement and spills, and hazardous waste disposal. 3- Expanding the state agency mapping of at-risk educational facilities using private well water to the Utica Shale region as permits for drilling in that region are filed with DEC. Links to resources (if links do not open, cut and paste urls into your web browser) • Map of public school facilities in Marcellus Shale: P-12 public school facilities relying on private well water on the Marcellus Shale. This includes classroom buildings, administrative offices and bus garages. https://docs.google.com/ List of public school facilities in Marcellus Shale relying on private well water: https://docs.google.com/ School data summary and list of classroom buildings by county: P-12 public school classroom buildings relying on private well water on the Marcellus Shale, by county, with enrollment and school socio-economic data https://docs.google.com/ • Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU) fact sheet for parents and communities: -30- End
Page Updated Last on: Dec 21, 2011
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