Report: Fracking study changed after intervention by NY officials

A 2013 federal water study was edited to play down the negative effects of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” following a flurry of email exchanges between the authors and New York state officials, according to a report published this week by local political news website Capital New York.

The study, conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), had examined naturally occurring methane in water wells across the gas-rich Southern Tier, a group of counties located on New York’s border with Pennsylvania.

New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who commissioned the study in 2011, has long maintained that he would only approve fracking if science shows that it can be done safely.

But some environmental experts are accusing the Cuomo administration of meddling with the study in order to blunt the impact of a number of politically inconvenient findings — a move that would enable him to move forward with controversial energy policies. 

Seth Berrin Shonkoff, executive director at Physicians, Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy, said: "It appears that this USGS study was changed to conform to the Cuomo administration's conveniences as opposed to reporting truthful empirical data analysis."

Asked by Al Jazeera to comment on the allegations by Capital New York, a representative for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC)  said that its staff had conducted a technical review of the original draft based on their extensive expertise, and that the communications with the author reflected "common and standard practice."

Fracking is a gas-extraction process in which highly pressurized fluids are pumped into the ground to release trapped fuel deposits. The practice has seen U.S. oil production spike under the Obama administration, with the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) recording an increase of 1.7 million barrels a day since 2011. But the practice remains politically controversial. Proponents argue that it creates jobs and decreases U.S. dependence on foreign oil. A 2012 study by business consultancy IHS Global Insight projects that fracking will support 3.5 million jobs by 2035. 

Opponents of fracking say the environmental and health risks outweighs those benefits, warning that the process may result in drinking water being contaminated by leaking methane gas and other toxic chemicals. A study by Duke University found methane concentrations 17 times higher in drinking-water wells located near fracking sites, compared to other wells.

A review of email exchanges, obtained by Capital New York, through a Freedom of Information Act request, suggest that Cuomo’s staff wanted some of the environmental risks described in the original draft played down. In some cases aspects of the report to which the state officials objected were not included in the final draft of the USGS study. 

In some of the emails, according to Capital New York, an official from NYSDEC refers to "alternate text" that he had provided. Other communications show that at various points, a USGS representative included a reminder that they are employed by a “science organization” that is not in the business of advocating particular positions, according to Capital. 

Critics are not convinced by the NYSDEC denial of any improper meddling.

"To ensure responsible energy policies, society needs well-designed and independent studies, not conspicuously non-independent studies that are manufactured to support pre-conceived political decisions," Shonkoff told Al Jazeera.

While the “unusually extensive feedback” didn’t result in any changes to the report's numerical data, Capital New York – which published both versions of the report – says changes to the text "are plain to see." 

The initial draft, for example, mentioned that gas “drilling, extraction, transport via pipelines, and underground storage” could inadvertently introduce methane into drinking water supplies. The final version of the study, however, omits that reference and instead includes a line stating that methane pollution risks are mitigated by well-designed gas wells: “This risk can be reduced if the casing and cementing of wells is properly designed and constructed."

Shonkoff, who is also a visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley, questioned the latter argument, saying the risk of releasing methane had not been proven "to be reduced to acceptable levels."