Today's Democrat and Chronicle and Star-Gazette cover Tom Reed's latest position on the regulation of Marcellus Shale drilling. He's against almost all Federal regulation:
Reed said he would vote against giving the Environmental Protection Agency authority to use the Clean Water Act or Safe Drinking Water Act to regulate such drilling. He also would oppose requiring drillers to disclose the chemicals they add to the water injected into the rock.
Reed's position is that the state should do the regulating. However, Federal water laws like Clean Water Act have been around for decades because water doesn't respect state boundaries.
Here's a simple hypothetical. Say St. Bonaventure College, which is about 10 miles from the Pennsylvania border, finds chemical contamination in their drinking water. In Tom Reed's world, they would have the right to find out if a Pennsylvania fracking operation caused that pollution only if Pennsylvania law says they can. In Eric Massa's world, they'd have that right because Federal law requires drillers to disclose what they inject into rock that could contaminate the water supply.
I'll leave it to the reader to imagine which world Saint Bonnies' students (and their parents) want to live in.
Comments
Seriously just because something is a problem doesn't mean the federal government should fix it. Reed is on the record stating that the state regulations should be vigorously enforced. This is a state issue. Eric Massa thinks he is God. He should be dealing with real national issues not local ones. This is a federal system.
The reason we have a Federal government is because sometimes regulation needs to cross state boundaries. We can have the best state regulations in the world, but for something like water, where a spill in Pennsylvania can ruin a New York town's water supply, our regulations aren't enough.
Congress recognized this decades ago. That's why clean air and water rules are Federal, not state. You need to study up a bit before you start calling Massa or any other Representative names.
Let me see if I have this right. Last week Tom Reed was for it, then he went to Washington and they told him he was against it?
Yes, the article pretty much says that without coming out and saying it directly.
St. Bonnies needs to enlist the minute-men to patrol the NY-PA border. Their main objective is twofold; first, keep illegal Penntuckians out of NY, and second, make sure PA's fracking laws are enforced. This is one of those issues where federal regulation actually has some merit, as Rottenchester is correct in that it would create a bureaucratic nightmare for New Yorkers to enforce PA laws that cause adverse effects here in NY. That's my two-cents. Now, I need to do some work.
What state isn't going to want to protect their drinking water? The State of PA will be making sure of it, just as much as the state of NY. Everyone is concerned with drinking water, yet no one seems to mind how much Trash they allow to pile up in Mount Ontario and Mount Seneca, which ultimately can affect ground water.