January 4, 2013 Attn: Draft HVHF Regulations Comments New York State Department of Environmental Conservation 625 Broadway

Albany, NY 12233-6510 Dear Commissioner Martens, I submit this letter under protest. Releasing regulations for final comment before a completed SGEIS is available to the public runs contrary to Governor Cuomo's stated commitment to making transparent decisions based on science. Further, limiting comment to within a 30-day window over the holidays implies public participation is unwelcome. The rule-making process currently underway is severely flawed. Notwithstanding, I submit the following comments regarding drinking water supplies. Sections 560.4(a)(5) and 750.3-3(a)(4) contain similar requirements for 2000ft setbacks from reservoirs, lakes, manmade drinking water supply sources, public supply wells and springs. The setback is half of the more stringent 4000ft requirement which applies to NYC and Syracuse watersheds. According to the rdSGEIS, this is because New York state public water supplies outside of New York City and Syracuse have not been granted Filtration Avoidance Determination exemptions by the EPA. However, none of the filtering systems used by New York State municipalities are designed to remove the chemicals in fracturing fluid or drilling waste. The rdSGEIS notes that filtering dissolved chemicals from the fracturing and drilling process is virtually impossible, or prohibitively expensive. The claim that public water supplies outside of New York City and Syracuse are "filtered" is therefore irrelevant. Further, the 4000ft setback granted to New York City and Syracuse applies to their entire watershedsi.e. not only specific water bodies serving as storage, but also all tributaries and surfaces that drain to those supplies. For the rest of New York State, the regulations prohibit well pads within 2000 ft of water supply intakes or within 1000 ft of tributaries one mile upstream. Based on outdated and inadequate provisions of Section 553.2, just beyond this one mile distance, DEC would require no more than 50 ft of separation between a well and the same waterway. DEC implies that any pollutants from a well-site found in a tributary would naturally remove themselves from the water column during their one mile journey downstream, a very different approach than the one granting whole watershed protection to New York City. And no explanation is given for the 1000ft separation between a well pad and tributary, compared to the 2000ft or 4000ft distances above. These arbitrary thresholds suggests the DEC believes the physical properties of water, fracking chemicals, and their solubility are different upstate and downstate. Also, provisions of Section 750-3.3(a)(5) differ from the DEC proposed regulation titled "SPDES General Permit for Stormwater Discharges from High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing," specifying 500ft setbacks to tributaries of surface public water drinking supplies without a one-mile limitation. Since these provisions apply only to HVHF wells, DEC could permit a well using 299,999 gallons of fracking fluid right next to a municipal drinking water supply, limited only by the 50ft minimum requirement provided by Section 553.2 of the old regulation. The regulations also dont address other activities/infrastructure present at the well site or within the spacing unit, including storage of HVHF materials, tanks, trucks, parking areas,

and pipelines. Because these industrial features are potential sources of leaks or contamination, they should be prohibited within appropriately defined setbacks too. Since current public filtration systems cant remove frack fluid and flowback chemicals, all public water supplies should receive the same level of protection as the New York City and Syracuse watersheds. The regulations should be revised to require a 4000ft setback from all public drinking water supplies and their tributaries. The regulations must require setbacks for tanks, chemicals, material storage, pipelines, access roads, parking or other ancillary gas development activities equal to those for public drinking water supplies, whether such features are located on the well pads or elsewhere at a well site or within a spacing unit. Sincerely,