(December 29th, New York) As the comment period for the State Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) is set to expire December 31st, many environmental scientists and activists are raising pointed objections to recent decisions made by New York City-based politicians and corporate environmental organizations. In its report released last week on the SGEIS, regarding the use of hydraulic fracturing in the extraction of natural gas from shale rock, the Bloomberg Administration concluded that this technique of gas drilling should be banned around the reservoirs which provide water to New York City, due to its potentially harmful effects on the city's water supply. As a result, Mayor Bloomberg announced his official position in support of a ban on drilling, but only in the New York City Watershed.  

 "Studies of the effects of gas drilling in Western states have proven that partial or two-tiered regulatory structures do not work. A ban on drilling only in the NYC watershed would be wholly inadequate in protecting the state’s water, air and farmland," declared Gusti Bogok of the Safe Water Movement, an environmental organization based in New York City. 
  
 Mike Bernhard, spokesperson for the Chenango Delaware Otsego Gas Drilling Opposition Group (CDOG) said "A ban that applies only to the City’s water supply not only abandons its fellow New Yorkers upstate, but also leaves New York City residents vulnerable to the serious health hazards and environmental degradation posed by this destructive drilling process." 
 
 "A ban in what is mistakenly referred to as 'the NYC watershed' would create an 'us vs. them' scenario, playing directly into the hands of the fossil-fuel industry and its political cohorts," stated Robert Jereski, a Democratic Party County Committeeman from New York City and signatory to the statewide ban petition. "If it's unsafe near our water supplies, why doesn't the Mayor oppose this unsafe drilling technique near all water supplies, including those of upstate residents or in the city's foodsheds there?" he asked. The petition has garnered thousands of signatures in New York City and across the state. 

 
 “We applaud the DEP’s efforts to reveal the dangers of frack drilling, but disagree with their limited conclusion," added Harry J. Bubbins, Director of the Friends of Brook Park. The South Bronx based organization has spearheaded the creation of a local Community Supported Agriculture program and Farmer’s Market which are reliant on fresh organic vegetables from upstate regions. "The only way to safeguard our food and water supply here in New York is to advance a state-wide ban.  If they drill one foot outside of the Catskill watershed everything is still in danger of ruin,” Bubbins pointed out. "Doesn't the City's approach to drilling seem too deferential to this industry? Isn't its response to the real environmental dangers posed unscientific?" he asked rhetorically.

 
The scientific evidence gathered from states where gas drilling has already taken place, has revealed migration of dangerous chemical fluids and contamination of aquifers, rivers and agricultural lands miles away from drilling sites, while toxic fracking gases flow downwind and contribute to ozone and greenhouse gas pollution.  SWiM and a growing movement of environmental activists statewide recognize that the only way to protect all New Yorkers is to implement a comprehensive and state-wide ban of hydraulic fracturing.