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To: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo

I call on the Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, to permanently ban the practice of fracking for gas as unsafe for clean water, air and a liveable climate.

Fracturing bedrock for gas is an inherently dirty and unsafe technology. Cement and pipes at these great depths and pressures leak, as the industry’s own documents show. Water laden with toxic chemicals poisons drinking water. Powerful methane leaks and warms our climate. Radiation underground is released and risks human and animal health. Pastoral rural areas are turned into brownfields. No amount of regulation can prevent this, nor can cement or pipes be repaired thousands of feet under the earth.

Instead, New York should lead the nation and become the Clean Energy State. Far more jobs can be created by insulating every building and installing modern insulating windows. These jobs pay for themselves with the energy cost savings, and save far more energy than fracking will produce. New York should also greatly expand affordable solar and wind power.

Furthermore, we submit this as an official public comment on the revised regulations proposed by the Department of Environmental Conservation on High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing. The proposed regulations will not protect our air, our water, our land, or our health from the hazards of fracking. We call upon the Department to withdraw the regulations and ban fracking in New York.

Lastly, we call on the Governor to give his Health Commissioner at least another year to conduct a truly thorough and credible study of fracking’s impact on human health. Rushing this study will expose it as politics, not science.

Governor Cuomo, Don’t Frack New York!