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Dr. Sandra Steingraber wants to ban carbon dioxide fracking

Gillberg
Dr. Sandra Steingraber wants to ban carbon dioxide fracking

If you thought New York was done talking about fracking 12 years ago, think again.

A new experimental form of hydraulic fracturing that uses carbon dioxide rather than water to extract shale gas is being demonstrated to landowners in the southern region.

The idea of ​​fracking sparked a reaction reminiscent of the anti-fracking rallies of the early 2010s. It also gave rise to a bill to ban C02 fracking, sponsored by Congresswoman L State Anna Kelles and State Senator Lea Webb.

Although the bill has passed both houses of the Legislature, the governor has not yet signed it.

In January, Capital tonight welcomed Bryce Phillips, President of Southern Tier CO2 to Clean Energy Solutions (aka Southern Tier Solutions). At the time, he was in the process of asking landowners in Broome, Chemung and Tioga counties to lease more than 100,000 acres to create test wells.

Phillips’ actions have attracted the attention of some of the same well-known activists who stopped hydrofracking under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, including Dr. Sandra Steingraber.

Steingraber is a retired scholar-in-residence at Ithaca College, co-founder of Concerned Health Professionals of New York, an internationally renowned authority on environmental toxicology, and author of several books, including “Living Downstream: An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the environment.”

She said Capital tonight that exchanging CO2 for water does not change the dangerousness of this type of drilling.

“Hydraulic fracturing replaces one liquid with another, but all the other risks that fracking poses to our climate, to our health and to our environment come with it,” Steingraber said.

Risks include earthquakes, radioactivity and the release of carcinogens, including benzene and formaldehyde.

Additionally, Steingraber said that while the water used in hydrofracturing is harmless, the liquefied CO2 that would be used in this new experimental type of hydraulic fracturing is “terribly toxic.”

“I will sleep better when I know that Governor Hochul signed this bill,” she said.

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