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POSITION STATEMENT: Hydraulic Fracturing

July, 2010

Statement: New York Interfaith Power and Light urges the EPA to use the Precautionary Principle in a scientifically sound comprehensive study of the process and impacts of hydrofracking.

NYIPL has serious concerns about the safety of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”).  Each drill injects 50,000 to eight million gallons of water mixed with sand and chemical additives into a geologic formation below the surface of the earth. The drilling industry has resisted revealing exactly what chemicals are used in the fluid. The high pressure creates fracturing in the rock which then releases the natural gas into the well. According to Environmental Advocates of New York (eany.org), more than 1,400 cases of water contamination related to drilling have occurred across the country. Recently the University of Buffalo has discovered that the process may cause uranium that is naturally trapped within Marcellus shale to be released.

NYIPL questions the use of precious resources to mine yet another fossil fuel, especially one with such potential dangers, and urges that no expansion of this practice should occur until such concerns are resolved.

NYIPL: New York Interfaith Power & Light is a faith-based non-profit organization that serves the state of New York.  Our mission is to support congregations of all faiths in their actions to curb global warming and protect the sacredness of the earth. We currently have 79 member congregations, and regularly communicate with 900 people via our email list.

We are part of a national network of congregations of all faiths concerned about the effects of global warming and power plant pollution.

Summary:  The precautionary principle states that if a practice, such as hydraulic fracturing, has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or to the environment, that the burden of proof that it is not harmful falls on those promoting the practice. In this case that would be those entities promoting hydraulic fracturing.

There are substantial potential risks to hydraulic fracturing. The concerns about possible water and air pollution caused by hydrofracking in the Marcellus Shale layer are well-documented.

Because the process was given an exemption from U.S. federal air and clean water regulations in 2005, we as a country have not done enough to formally assess the potential risks of hydrofracking.

We should not go forward with this process operating out of ignorance.  There are so many people who would be affected if drinking water were contaminated that it would be negligent to fail to study potential risks thoroughly. Furthermore, little is known about the effects of this process on health of people near drilling sites, or on the local biota–including the eventual disposal of the waste water that returns to the surface.

Our earth is sacred, and all that live in it.  NYIPL calls on the EPA, along with our whole community, to care for God’s creation by exercising the precautionary principle in relation to hydraulic fracturing.

Contact: Janna Stieg Watkins, NYIPL Executive Director (315) 256-0078

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Earth Day Lobby Day 2012

New York IPL folks sporting their armbands at Earth Day Lobby Day

More than 125 concerned citizens descended upon the New York State Capitol on April 25th, 2012, to call upon legislators to protect our fragile planet. New York Interfaith Power & Light was well represented, and proudly flaunted our presence with armbands that read “NYIPL – A Religious Response to Global Warming.”

After hearing from environmental leaders and politicians in the morning, activists gathered in groups to meet with the offices of more than 80 Senators and Assembly Members. We were encouraging them to support five bills:

  1. The Global Warming Pollution Cap – S. 2742 (Avella) and A.5346 (Sweeney) This bill would direct the Department of Environmental Conservation to establish an emissions limit for greenhouse gases from all sources, leading up to a 20% reduction by 2020, and until we reach a level of overall emissions in 2050 that would be 80% below 1990 levels.
    http://www.eany.org/images/2012BillMemos/31_globalwarmingcap.pdf
    Fate of the Bill: In response to our efforts, the Assembly version of this bill passed the assembly on 4/25/12, but ended the session in the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee.
  2. The Solar Jobs Act – A. 9149 (Englebright, et al.) This bill directs the Public Service Commission to develop an incentive program for solar photovoltaic (“PV”) systems, and establishes a goal to increase installed solar PV capacity by the year 2021.
    http://www.eany.org/images/2012BillMemos/30_solarjobsact_2.pdf
    Fate of the Bill: This bill ended the session awaiting hearing in the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.
  3. Hazardous Waste Loophole for Fracking Fluid Disposal – S.4616 (Avella, et al.) and A.7013 (Sweeney, et al.) This bill would require all waste that results from exploration, development, extraction or production of crude oil or natural gas, which includes drilling fluids and produced waters to be considered hazardous waste under the amendment of this bill.
    http://www.eany.org/images/2012BillMemos/1_defininghazardousfrackingwaste.pdf
    Fate of the Bill: A.7013 passed through the Assembly in February, but ended the session in the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee.
  4. EPF Enhancement Act – S.5403-A (Grisanti, et al.) and A.7137-A (Latimer, et al.) This bill would provide a net increase in resources allocated to the Environmental Protection Fund by phasing unclaimed bottle deposits from the General Fund into the EPF over four years.
    http://www.eany.org/images/2012BillMemos/20_epfenhancement_2.pdf
    Fate of the Bill: In May, A.07137 passed through the Assembly and ended the session in the Senate Finance Committee.
  5. The Child-Safe Products Act – A.3141-A (Sweeny , et al.) This act would establish a framework to identify and remove toxic chemicals from products that are designed to be used by children 12 and under. It will phase out children’s products made with priority chemicals starting January 1, 2016.
    http://www.eany.org/images/2012BillMemos/36_childsafeproductsact_3.pdf
    Fate of the Bill: On April 25 (the day of Earth Day Lobby Day), this bill passed through the Assembly but ended the session in the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee.

What you can do: Contact your Assembly Member and your Senator and tell them to make it a priority to pass the Global Warming Pollution Cap and the Solar Jobs Act (or similar measures) next year.

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University United Methodist Church Connects the Dots

On May 5th,  “Climate Action Day,” members of University United Methodist Church in Syracuse gathered to Connect the Dots between severe weather and climate change at the Syracuse Center of Excellence, which is facilitating innovations in energy and environmental technology.  The building itself earned a LEED “platinum” rating (LEED is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).

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Colorado Students Connect with NY Gardening Resources

greenhouse

We received this letter from an after school program in Colorado that students there are connecting with resources here to expand their efforts to “go green.”

My name is Sarah and I am an after-school counselor out in Colorado.  My students have been using your webpage, Eating Together, and brought to my attention how helpful it has been for their Gardening project!

As a thank you, one of my students, Danielle, suggested another resource:

The Greenhouse Gardening Guide

Could you add this to your page? I think it would be a great addition! I researched the article and it is very resourceful which is why I agreed to write to you when she asked me the other day.

We would like to thank you again for the wonderful resources and hope that you add our newly discovered resource to your page!

Thanks, Sarah, for all you’re doing to help your students reduce their carbon footprint. And thanks, Danielle, for sending this excellent resource our way!

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Watch the Video. Connect the Dots

On May 5, 2012, the world stood up to Connect the Dots on climate impacts. It was a beautiful, inspiring, occasionally heartbreaking day. It’s hard to describe what it felt like to watch the world come together like that—but this video comes close. If you haven’t seen it yet, please take 90 seconds to watch and spread it around.

 

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Connect the Dots Action

On Climate Action Day, May 5th Arianna Varuolo, intern at NYIPL, coordinated a “Connect the Dots” event for Climate Impact Day along with Gerry Falco, Vice President. They joined at Gate of Heaven Cemetery with family and friends where a “freak tornado” went through and devastated what was once forest. The group is surrounding an uprooted tree to make the connection between severe weather and climate change.

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North Presbyterian Church Installs Solar Panels

On May 5th, Climate Action Day, Dr. Pat Townsend gathered with friends and family at her North Presbyterian Church to showcase their newly-installed and dedicated solar panels. This was an event that was meant to show the people that there is hope and that climate change is a battle that we can conquer…one solar panel at a time!

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POSITION STATEMENT: NO KEYSTONE XL TAR SANDS PIPELINE

September 2011

New York Interfaith Power & Light is a non-profit organization made up of 87 member congregations of all faiths in the state of New York. We believe that, as people of faith, it is our moral obligation to act as good stewards of the earth.

New York Interfaith Power & Light opposes the Keystone XL “Tar Sands” pipeline because the project it is a tremendous step in the wrong direction, away from a clean energy future, and it will have a devastating effect on the environment.

Tar sands mining occurs in the boreal forest in Canada. The proposed Keystone XL Pipeline would pump approximately 900,000 barrels of oil daily through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas to the Gulf of Mexico.

Tar sands oil is hard to extract.

In order to produce one barrel of oil, more than four tons of material must be dug out of open pit mines. In the process of mining, oil companies are devastating the pristine Boreal forest in Canada, which provides critical habitat for wolves, grizzlies, 50 percent of North America’s migratory birds, and other species. For each barrel produced, miners contaminate two to four barrels of freshwater in order to separate the oil from the sand.

Tar sand oil mining will drastically worsen global warming.

Tar sands oil releases at least three times more global warming pollution than conventional oil.  To mine the oil, the Boreal forest is being destroyed. The Boreal forest is a “carbon sink” – storing vast quantities of carbon dioxide and keeping it out of the atmosphere. Preeminent climate scientist and director of NASA’s Goddard Institute James Hansen has described the Alberta tar sands development as “game-over” for climate change.

The pipeline could contaminate water and land.

The Sierra Club calls Tar Sands oil “the most toxic form of oil on earth” because it contains sulfur, arsenic and heavy metals. The risk of a spill is very real, as spills occur with alarming frequency. More than 1.4 million gallons leaked out of oil pipelines such as this in 2010 alone. Consequences could be dire, as the pipeline would pass over and through the Ogallala aquifer, a source of drinking water for millions and source of 30% of the nation’s groundwater used for irrigation. Indigenous people (called First Nations in Canada) are protesting against the pipeline, claiming that exploitation of the oil sands has already caused health problems at Fort Chipewyan.

Conclusion

The proposed XL pipeline will undermine our best efforts to develop a clean energy future for the Northeast and for America. If built, Keystone XL will lock us into a future in which our nation is dependent on one of the dirtiest and costliest fuels in the world.

This matters especially to people of faith as we look at injustice in the impact of global climate change. The consequences–drought, flooding, food shortages, and civil strife–are borne by poor countries and poor people, those lacking the resilience and resources to adapt.

Our faith also compels us to speak for intergenerational justice. Faith takes the long view rather than the immediate return in the next election or economic cycle. We speak not only for our grandchildren, but also to the “seventh generation” as the Iroquois Indians would say, in asking that the environment be protected from the long-term consequences of the pipeline.

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