Congressman Maurice Hinchey has written Lisa Jackson, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, asking her to review an internal EPA decision to allow hydraulic fracturing in the New York City Watershed.
It was reported by The New York Times last Thursday that internal versions of the EPA’s comments on New York’s Environmental Impact Statement included a ban on so-called “hydrofracking” in the area of upstate New York that supplies drinking water to New York City.
That prohibition was removed in the final public version.
Concerns about the hydrofracking process include the inadequacy of sewage treatment plants, which might handle the millions of gallons of wastewater that are a byproduct of the process.
Potential contamination of widely used sources of drinking water could result.
