The potential for widespread hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” threatens New York’s abundance of farmers markets, community-supported agriculture, and locally

grown produce and food products. Fracking is a process that the oil and gas industry uses to extract natural gas and oil from shale rock formations buried deep within the Earth.1 It requires large quantities of water mixed with sand and toxic chemicals, which are injected underground at high pressure to crack dense rock and release oil and gas.2

The New York State Department of Environmental Conserva-tion’s (DEC) Revised Draft Supplemental General Environmental Impact Statement recommends opening up large areas of New York to shale gas development, which would permit fracking.3 However, the DEC did not analyze how fracking would affect New York’s agricultural and farming sector.4

Recently, the news media leaked information that Governor Andrew Cuomo is considering a plan to allow fracking in five Southern Tier counties: Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Steuben and Tioga.5 Agriculture and farming are considered central to the Southern Tier economy,6 and about two-thirds of the area’s agricultural sales are for milk and dairy products.7

Agriculture and Farming in New York Food and agriculture play important roles in New York’s economy, culture and environment. New York has the second-largest number of farmers markets in the country,8 ranks fourth for the number of organic farms,9 and is the third-largest dairy state.10 In fact, Steuben County, one of the counties that Governor Cuomo is considering opening up to fracking,11 has one of the highest numbers of dairies in New York.12 As state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has noted, “New York State’s rural economies are dependent on the survival of the dairy industry.”13

An Economic Snapshot of New York’s Agriculture and Farming SectorsAgriculture is a leading economic engine in New York.14 In addition to its plentiful dairies, in 2010 New York was the second-largest apple producer in the nation, with apples being the leading fruit crop in the state.15 New York was also the second-largest maple syrup, cabbage16 and wine producing state.17 Moreover, New York’s wine sector is on the rise and is a huge economic driver, attracting millions of tourists each year.18 In 2010, milk, corn grain, corn silage, hay, apples and

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floriculture were the top six agriculture commodities in the state.19 (See Figure 1.) Overall, farming, agriculture and food production support thousands of jobs across the state, ranging from tourism to food processing.20

Ways Fracking Threatens New York Farms That Supply the U.S. Northeast With Fresh, Locally Grown Food and MilkA Penn State Extension study found that among Pennsylvania counties with at least 10,000 dairy cows, counties that had at least 150 Marcellus shale wells experienced a 16 percent average decline in dairy cows between 2007 and 2010, compared to a 3 percent increase experienced in counties without shale gas wells.22 On average, the counties with at least 150 Marcellus wells endured an 18.5 percent decrease in milk production, while production in counties with no shale drilling increased.23 As Timothy Kelsey, the professor of agricultural economics who led the research, noted, “… it’s important to understand the implications of Marcellus Shale development on farming.”24

Fracking Pollution Travels Beyond Site-Specific Well PadsContamination is not just an on-site problem, and fracking’s risks extend beyond the drilling sites. Traffic accidents, spills, well blowouts and leaks can all put farms and agricultural land in jeopardy. Fleets of trucks are used to ship hazardous

wastewater and toxic materials. Traffic accidents have caused fracking wastewater to be released into nearby freshwater bodies and private property.25 Such accidents also could pose a threat to nearby farmland. In New York, it is estimated that if the state allows shale gas development, each well would require 3,950 total trips of heavy trucks and 2,840 trips of light trucks.26

In Tioga County, Pennsylvania, in 2010, a fracking wastewater storage pond leaked and spilled into a pasture where 28 cattle were grazing.27 Eight of the 11 calves born the following spring from the herd were stillborn or were born so weak that they did not survive.28 In 2011, a well blowout in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, contaminated adjacent streams and farmland with thousands of gallons of drilling fluids.29 Exposure to fracking fluids can be lethal to livestock. A 2012 study identi-fied an incident where 17 cows died within an hour of direct exposure to fracking fluids.30

Competition for ResourcesIn addition to water contamination, and because it takes millions of gallons of water to frack a single shale gas well,31 widespread shale development could compete with agriculture for increasingly limited water supplies.32

As trucking demands increase to accommodate fracking operations, commodity trucking rates for agriculture could increase,33 and the growing presence of the oil and gas industry could disadvantage farmers. In Pennsylvania, many truckers have gone to work for the industry; as a result, dairy

Milk

Corn Grain

Corn Silage

Hay

Apples

Floriculture

Cattle & Calves

Soybeans

Fresh Cabbage

Fresh Sweet Corn

Potatoes

Grapes

Eggs

Summer Onions

Wheat

Fresh Snap Beans

Squash

Pumpkins

Other

Figure 1. New York State’s Leading Agricultural Commodities by Market Value in 201021

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farmers in both Pennsylvania and New York have had to pay more for transporting their milk.34

Resource competition may also present itself in other, poten-tially unforeseen ways. Sawdust is often used for animal farm bedding.35 The oil and gas industry also uses it, combining it with drilling waste before sending it off to landfills.36 Because of this, some farmers in Pennsylvania were unable to purchase sawdust for their cattle bedding.37

Air Pollution Can Harm Agricultural YieldsVolatile organic compounds, including benzene and toluene, can be released during fracking and can mix with nitrogen oxide emissions from diesel-fueled vehicles and stationary equipment to form ground-level ozone.38 Increased ground-level ozone damages crops and threatens food security.39 Moreover, ground-level ozone pollution from shale gas devel-opment is not just a local problem; it can be spread hundreds of miles.40

New York’s Farmland Is Vital Much of the land in the Marcellus Shale region is active farm-land. It would be shortsighted to go forward with shale gas development given that threats to food security are unknown. Agriculture and farming contribute heavily to New York’s economy and workforce and are crucial to rural economies and communities.

Fracking would pose a threat to New York’s agricultural water resources and the purity of the air and soil on and in which our food grows.

Fracking could pose an economic and physical risk to the farms that supply New Yorkers and large portions of the U.S. Northeast with fresh, locally grown food.

For New York State’s agricultural sector to grow and thrive, Governor Cuomo must ban fracking in all of New York State.

Endnotes1 American Petroleum Institute. “Freeing Up Energy. Hydraulic Fractur-

ing: Unlocking America’s Natural Gas Resources.” July 19, 2010 at 1, 2 and 4.

2 Ibid. at 1, 2, and 4; Arthur, J. Daniel et al. “Hydraulic fracturing consid-erations for natural gas wells of the Marcellus shale.” Paper present-ed at The Ground Water Protection Council 2008 Annual Forum, Cincinnati, OH. September 21–24, 2008 at 8; Colborn, Theo et al. “Natural gas operations from a public health perspective.” Interna-tional Journal of Human and Ecological Risk Assessment, vol. 17, iss. 5. September 2011 at 1040 to 1041; Groundwater Protection Council and ALL Consulting. “Modern Shale Gas Development in the United States: A Primer.” Prepared for U.S. Department of Energy Office of Fossil Energy and National Energy Technology Laboratory. April 2009 at ES-4.

3 New York State, Department of Environmental Conservation. “Re-vised Draft Supplemental General Draft Environmental Impact State-ment on the Oil, Gas and Solution Mining Regulatory Program: Well Permit Issuance for Horizontal Drilling and High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing to Develop the Marcellus Shale and Other Low-Permeabil-ity Gas Reservoirs.” September 7, 2011; New York State, Department of Environmental Conservation. “Fact Sheet: 2011 Recommendations for Permitting High-Volume Fracturing in New York State.” New York State, Department of Environmental Conservation News. 2011.

4 Hudson, Katherine. Watershed Program Director, Riverkeeper, Inc. Testimony to New York State Department of Environmental Conser-vation, Hearing on the Revised Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement Governing Natural Gas Drilling. November 30, 2011

PHOTO COURTESY OF NORTHEAST ORGANIC FARMING ASSOCIATION OF NY (NOFA-NY)

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at 1 and 2; Barth, Jannette et al. Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy. Let-ter to Joseph Martens, Commissions of Department of Environmental Conservation. December 29, 2011 at 1 and 2.

5 Hakim, Danny. “Cuomo proposal would restrict gas drilling to a strug-gling area.” The New York Times. June 13, 2012; Klopott, Freeman and Jim Efstathiou, Jr. “Cuomo said to want to limit fracking to 5 New York counties.” Bloomberg News. June 13, 2012.

6 Haskell, Jean. “Assessing the Landscape of Local Food in Appalachia.” For the Appalachian Regional Commission. May 1, 2012 at 55.

7 DiNapoli, Thomas P. New York State Office of the State Comptroller. “Agriculture By The Numbers: New York Farming Is Big Business.” (Report 7-2013). August 2012 at 2.

8 Weidenhof, Emily and Nidhi Bhatnagar (eds.). “Ground Up: Cultivating Sustainable Agriculture in the Catskill Region.” Columbia University, Urban Design Research Seminar. Spring 2010 at 15.

9 Ibid. at 10.10 DiNapoli, Thomas P. New York State Office of the State Comptroller.

“New York’s Dairy Industry in Crisis.” March 2010 at 1.11 Klopott and Efstathiou, Jr., 2012.12 DiNapoli, 2010 at 1.13 Ibid. at 2.14 Hancock, Mary Pat et al. New York State Association of Counties, Blue

Ribbon Task Force. “Growing the Farm Economy: A Report from the Blue Ribbon Task Force on the Future of Farming in NYS.” November 2011 at 3.

15 DiNapoli, 2012 at 1.16 Ibid. at 1.17 Ibid. at 2.18 Ibid. at 2.19 Ibid. at 2.20 Ibid. at 1.21 Data for graph from Figure 1, “Top Agricultural Commodities in New

York (2010),” in: Ibid. at 2.22 Adams, Riley and Timothy W. Kelsey. “Pennsylvania Dairy Farms and

Marcellus Shale, 2007-2010.” Penn State Cooperative Extension, College of Agricultural Sciences. 2012 at 2.

23 Ibid. at at 3. 24 Penn State. [Press Release]. “Marcellus Shale activity affecting coun-

ty-level dairy production.” March 5, 2012.25 Cooley, Heather and Kristina Connelly. Pacific Institute. “Hydraulic

Fracturing and Water Resources: Separating the Frack from the Fic-

tion.” June 2012 at 27; Warco, Kathie O. “Fracking truck runs off road; contents spill.” Observer-Reporter (Washington and Green Counties, PA). October 21, 2010; Bamberger, Michelle and Robert E. Oswald. “Impact of Gas Drilling on Human and Animal Health.” New Solutions, vol. 22, iss. 1. 2012 at 61 and 62.

26 New York State, Department of Environmental Conservation. Sep-tember 7, 2011 at 6-303.

27 Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. [Press Re-lease]. “Cattle from Tioga County Farm Quarantined After Coming in Contact with Natural Gas Drilling Wastewater.” July 1, 2010.

28 Phillips, Susan. “Burning questions: Quarantined cows give birth to dead calves.” State Impact Pennsylvania, National Public Radio. Sep-tember 27, 2011.

29 Rumbach, Andrew. “Natural Gas Drilling in the Marcellus Shale: Potential Impacts on the Tourism Economy of the Southern Tier.” Report Prepared for the Southern Tier Central Regional Planning and Development Board. 2011 at 18; “Gas Well Spews Polluted Water.” Associated Press. April 20, 2011.

30 Bamberger and Oswald, 2012 at 55, 59 and 60.31 Ibid. at 52.32 Pless, Jacquelyn. National Conference of State Legislatures. “Natural

Gas Development and Hydraulic Fracturing. A Policymaker’s Guide.” June 2012 at 8; Collier, Kiah. “Fracking gives Texas another oil boom, but at huge water costs.” Standard Times (San Angelo, TX). June 30, 2011.

33 McGregor, Brian and Ken Casavant. “Ch. 13 Truck Transportation.” In U.S. Department of Agriculture, and U.S. Department of Transporta-tion. “Study of Rural Transportation Issues.” April 2010 at 426.

34 Smith-Heavenrich, Sue. “Rural Impacts: How Shale Gas Drilling Af-fects Farmers.” Broader View Weekly (Van Etten, NY). May 12, 2011.

35 Ibid.; Smith-Heavenrich, Sue. “Dangers in Drilling the Farm.” Tomp-kins Weekly (Ithaca, NY), vol. 5, iss. 28. May 2–8, 2011 at 1.

36 Smith-Heavenrich. May 12, 2011; Smith-Heavenrich. May 2–8, 2011 at 1.

37 Smith-Heavenrich. May 12, 2011; Smith-Heavenrich. May 2–8, 2011 at 1.

38 Colborn, 2011 at 1042.39 Booker, Fitzgerald et al. “The Ozone Component of Global Change:

Potential Effects on Agricultural and Horticultural Plant Yield, Product Quality and Interactions with Invasive Species.” Journal of Integrative Plant Biology, vol. 51, iss. 4. 2009 at 337, 338 and 347.

40 Colborn, 2011 at 1042.

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